Shattered Reality
by Hopeakaarme
Summary: After a mysterious fire startles everyone at a weekend tennis camp, people are doing their best to return to their normal lives. However, they soon start to show strange powers and abilities. Superpower AU; shounen ai JirouDan, others.
1. Pro: In Which There Is Data

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters. Konomi Takeshi does. I'm merely playing with them for the moment.

A/N: Between the 1st and 25th of December, I kept posting one fic/update a day over at my LJ, **lumelle**. These updates were in series of five fics sharing a theme.

The fourth series of five started five AUs. This one is going to be a super power AU simply because my mind demands one. No, it won't be only about the data players; in fact, the PoVs will be quite varied.

* * *

**Shattered Reality**

_Prologue_

In Which There Is Data

Over the years of an ordinary person's life, various forms of media again and again reinforce the misconception that sinister plans are always brought to being in shadowy rooms or even half-ruined chambers in the highest towers of an ancient castle. This is, obviously, quite untrue. Just as well and even more likely diabolical schemes will be designed in the comfort of a perfectly ordinary living room, fighting for the best spot on the couch while someone is always trying to hog the snacks.

This time the scene of planning was one of the living room variety. It was not a very spacious living room - the ones in Japanese homes rarely were - but it was enough to host a couch, an armchair and a small coffee table in the middle. The coffee table was currently covered with bowls and plates of various snacks, the armchair claimed by a rather calm-looking boy while two others were seated on the couch, arguing over a bowl of crisps in the civilized tones of one who believes - or wants the others to believe - that his opponent is not worth the energy of being yelled at. A fourth boy stood aside to watch the scene, seeming somewhat amused.

Data players could occasionally be observed to possess a somewhat peculiar sense of humour.

"Really, now, let's all be adults here," the boy in the armchair chuckled, crossing his long legs at the ankles. "If you just agreed to sit next to each other, you could simply share the bowl."

"Ah, but that would be too easy, wouldn't it?" the standing boy asked, smirking a bit as he adjusted his dark-rimmed glasses. "How about I go and get another bowl so you won't have to fight over that one?"

"Fight?" One of the two boys on the couch blinked innocently, large chocolate-brown eyes simply radiating innocence even as his fingers were still tightly curled around the edge of the bowl. "Of course we weren't fighting! Why ever would you think such a thing, Inui-san? We were merely just agreeing that Mizuki-san was just about to give the bowl back to me because I had it first desu."

"Ah, but my dearest Dan-kun, you are quite mistaken," the other boy said, fiddling with a dark curl falling over his face even as his hand, too, gripped tightly on the bowl. "Have you forgotten you were going to give this bowl to me since you prefer the barbeque-flavoured ones?"

"Your data is obviously quite flawed, unbelievable though that may be desu." Smile, smile, let go you little bitch. "In fact, I very much prefer this flavour. Perhaps you could go off somewhere to update your data and leave this for me?"

"Okay, that's it, kids. I'm getting another bowl so perhaps we can finally get to actual business," the bespectacled boy said, adjusting his glasses again before he turned around to leave the room. "Renji, I'll trust you to keep them from killing each other."

"I'll try not to betray your faith in me, Sadaharu," the sitting boy chuckled, watching amusedly as the two other boys kept glaring at each other. "…Hard though it may be in this case…"

As Inui returned from the kitchen, both Dan and Mizuki were indeed still alive, though very much glaring at each other. However, as Inui handed them another bowl of the very same crisps, they finally seemed to come to an end in their hostilities, each retreating to one end of the couch with his own bowl. Smirking, Inui took the last seat between them, wisely separating them in case of any further conflict between the two, save for the occasional glare.

"Okay. Now that we have all settled down, I do think it's time to start." Reaching forward, he snatched a bit of popcorn from one of the bowls, then rapped his knuckles against the glass surface of the coffee table. "I hereby declare the most recent semi-regular meeting of Kantou area data players open. Present from last time Inui Sadaharu of Seishun Gakuen, Yanagi Renji of Rikkai Daigaku Fuzoku, Mizuki Hajime of St. Rudolph, first attendance of Dan Taichi of Yamabuki Chuu, from hereon to be officially included in any listing of data players." He nodded at the smallest boy. "We're glad to have you here, Dan-kun. A new generation is most certainly welcome in the data field."

"I'm honoured to be here desu," Dan replied with a happy grin, putting a crisp into his mouth and then licking his fingers clean. "This is certainly not an event just anyone gets the chance to ever attend~"

"Most definitely not." Yanagi raised his eyebrows. "For some time, I was worried Sadaharu might not even want to include me anymore after what happened in our last… encounter."

"What happens on tennis courts stays on tennis courts," Inui said, though a careful enough observer might have caught a sharp glance being sent to Yanagi's direction through the nigh opaque lenses. Of course, it just so happened everyone in the room was quite a careful observer. "I should think some form of unity among us, despite any rivalries, would be more important than petty grudges."

"Very much agreed." Mizuki raised his eyebrows, eyeing the others challengingly even as he curled up further into his corner of the couch, the bowl of crisps held possessively in his arms as though afraid Dan would still try to seize it despite having his own snacks now. "What were our topics of discussion for today? The conclusion of the National tournament, I believe? Nfu."

"As though Sadaharu would let us ignore that topic." Yanagi sighed rather dramatically. "I have to say, my calculations were rather off the mark on that one."

"As were mine, to be honest," Inui admitted. "Of course, I did not predict a crushing defeat, but really, only one of the matches proceeded in the manner I first predicted. And that would, naturally, be Doubles One."

"Which is another one I was rather surprised by," Yanagi chuckled. "Your Golden Pair truly is rather impressive… But then, even my own teammates managed to surprise me. I hadn't expected quite such a level of skill from Niou, for example."

"I do believe we were all quite surprised by that one," Mizuki commented. "But of course, the better one won. After all, to be my rival, it wouldn't do for Fuji Syusuke to lose to just anyone. Nfu." He again twisted a curly lock around his finger, looking quite satisfied with himself.

"Rival is certainly an interesting way to put it," murmured Dan, only to smile innocently as Mizuki sent him a glare. "Really, both of your teams were just amazing! Just as I thought I finally had at least some substantial data, everyone decided to rewrite their data all over again desu. I don't think anyone's data was quite the same after the finals!"

"Those were certainly some rather impressive matches." Yanagi nodded in agreement. "Though I'm afraid you lost some of the data, Sadaharu… I'm sorry."

"I managed to get my hand on some recordings afterwards, so no irreparable damage was done." Inui shrugged. "But then, there was some data I gathered that had little to do with tennis… such as Hyoutei's Atobe's surprising offer of help."

"Not so surprising, really, when you factor in his major personal traits of arrogance and pride," Mizuki retorted. "He couldn't stand to see another team beat the team his players failed to overcome, so of course he would want to bring back your ultimate trump card - and who better in his opinion to ensure your victory than the one who stole his?"

"That does sound like a rather believable train of thought for someone like Atobe-san desu," Dan admitted, tapping a finger against his lips in thought. "It's difficult enough for him to accept only being the second best; he certainly wouldn't want to add anyone else to the list of people who have won against him."

"I have to say I agree with your theory." Yanagi smiled a bit. "Interesting, that you could so closely identify with such an arrogant person, Mizuki."

"Really, now." Mizuki glared at the Rikkai's Data Master. "I am merely self-confident, not arrogant - though I do admit to holding some pride in my skills."

"Some, indeed." Dan smirked briefly before going back to his usual innocent smile as though he hadn't just seemed almost ominous for a second or two. "It would certainly be interesting to compare our teams' current data with yours, though. Sure, in lack of Akutsu-senpai we fell from the National Tournament, but some of us have certainly gotten better since the last time we faced you, Inui-san desu."

"And you'd be fools to think St. Rudolph has simply lain low ever since we were dropped from the official tournaments," Mizuki added with a more obvious smirk. "I assure you we would be quite a fearsome opponent by now."

"Is that so?" Inui raised his eyebrows. "I would indeed like to observe such development. Might it be possible to arrange some form of practice matches?"

"Mere practice matches wouldn't provide us with much data, I'm afraid," Yanagi pointed out. "And most importantly, they wouldn't for us all to make observations at the same time. If only there was some way to hold a tournament between our four schools so we could observe all the different combinations…"

"That would indeed be ideal from a data-gathering viewpoint," Dan agreed, nodding enthusiastically before biting at another crisp, thoughtfully snapping it between his tongue and teeth. Swallowing the snack, he then continued, "However, I hardly think any of our schools quite has the resources to host a tournament between four teams at once desu."

"While practice matches would be easy enough to arrange, you are sadly right on that," Inui sighed. "Rikkaidai might have enough courts to reduce the time of unnecessarily waiting around, but I hardly think Yukimura would be too keen to agree, not when it might be taken as Rikkai just being unable to accept defeat. That, and including a team not on National level would probably seem like mere waste of time to him," he added with a meaningful gaze at Mizuki.

"He would be mistaken," Mizuki grumbled, before fiddling with his curl again. "Though I do think you're correct… I wonder if there is any way to find somewhere or someone else to host such a tournament for our data purposes."

"Well… there is one possibility, I think desu," Dan said thoughtfully. "Though that would inevitably mean the inclusion of at least one more team…"

"Oh?" Yanagi raised his eyebrows. "Do share your thoughts, Dan-kun."

"I think I know where this is heading." Inui smirked. "There is one person who hardly would mind a rematch… and certainly has more than sufficient resources to host a tennis tournament of any kind he just happens to desire. We are thinking of the same thing, aren't we?"

"That is certainly an interesting possibility," Mizuki said, smirking. "We'd only have to find a way to convince him of that…"

"I believe I should be the one to make the attempt, as our team is the most familiar with his," Inui said, pushing his glasses up just a bit. "No offense meant, Dan-kun, but if someone like you were to approach him he most probably wouldn't even try to listen to you."

"None taken, Inui-san." Dan chuckled. "After all, I'm yet to make an impression on much of anyone, never mind someone like him." He tilted his head to the side. "Of course there's always the possibility of us approaching him as a group… your presence would ensure we are properly heard, while our number might better convince him of the necessity of including all of our teams."

"That sounds like a plan I would not entirely disagree with." Yanagi smirked a bit. "Is it decided, then? Sadaharu will arrange for an appointment with his highness and we shall all go with him to help with the negotiations."

"I don't find any fault with that plan, either." Inui nodded. "I calculate an 82 percent chance of success if we properly appeal to his pride as well as his all-consuming need to be, simply put, the best."

"Ah, manipulation, the finest of all arts." Mizuki sighed happily, then glanced at the table. "Inui-kun? Is there anything to drink?"

"Ah, yes, I'll go and get the drinks from the kitchen." Inui stood up. "Water? Soda? Coffee? Tea? Oh, and I just finished a new batch of juice yesterday, I'd be delighted to let you try it! It's high on vitamins, very healthy."

"Thank you, Sadaharu, but I think I'd prefer tea." Yanagi raised his eyebrows.

"Coffee for me," Mizuki said with a slight chuckle. "Or spring water, if you have some… I do think our little kouhai would most benefit from a glass of milk," he then added, sending a smirk into Dan's direction.

"Now, now. I'm certain Dan-kun is perfectly aware of his own nutritional needs," Inui said, the corner of his mouth twitching upwards. "So, what shall it be, Dan-kun? Would you at least care to taste my juice?"

"Surely you jest, Inui-san desu." Dan blinked with perfect innocence. "You seem to forget I make a habit of regularly checking in with the Seigaku team. I've seen the effects of your juice desu." He shuddered visibly. "I do think I prefer my short-term well-being to whatever long-term healthy effects you wish to promote. So, just soda for me, thanks."

"…I see you're not altogether hopeless. Nfu." Mizuki reached out a hand to pat Dan's somewhat shaggy head of hair, gaining an indignant squeak from the smaller boy.

"I see. Very funny. Do laugh some more at my expense," Inui said with feigned hurt as he disappeared to the kitchen once more. However, a careful observer might have caught a hint of a smile on his face.

Thankfully, once again, all the three others were very careful observers indeed.

*

"That is an… interesting proposition, certainly." Atobe folded his arms across his chest, eyeing the four people in front of him. "So, basically, you want me to host a tournament so that the four of you get to compare your current data?"

"That is basically the idea, yes." Inui, their main spokesperson, adjusted his glasses. "Of course, you surely see the benefits in such an arrangement for yourself. Not only would it be a precious opportunity for a few rematches and interesting challenges, but you would also get to test your team's current skill level."

"And provide you all with precious data on my team's tennis." Well, let it never be said that Atobe didn't have any form of intelligence hidden behind all his arrogance.

"And what would that matter?" Mizuki asked as reasonably as he could. "We certainly won't face each other in an official tournament until next year, by which time the data has most likely become obsolete, given the development rate of the best players; also, due to the all too likely mixing of teams upon our entrance to various high schools as well as the addition of older and more skilled players, your team by that time won't exactly be your team at all."

"The most advantage would be gained by Dan-kun," Yanagi pointed out calmly. "But again, his data on your few younger players would certainly be outdated by the time their teams faced each other next year, and most certainly of no effect to yourself. While we are certainly looking for data here, it is more out of our curiosity and personal pride in our respective teams than any hope of future benefit through what we would gain now."

"I… see." Atobe raised his hand to his face in a manner all four data gatherers instantly found to rather clearly resemble his Insight pose. "And you turn to me presumably because you do not have the resources to organize such an event by yourselves?"

"Precisely." Inui nodded calmly at this admission. "We came to the conclusion that the benefits offered to you by this scenario would be enough to make you respond favourably to our suggestion. We would naturally take upon ourselves the burden of convincing our respective teams to take part, so you wouldn't have to worry about the possible lack of worthy opponents for yourself."

"…You certainly have given this some thought. But then, I guess one should expect that from… data players." Atobe raised his eyebrows. "Very well… I do think I shall agree with this suggestion. Do be aware, though, that the particulars of time and place shall be arranged according to ore-sama's wishes, given that they are in any way agreeable to you."

"We did calculate an 82 percent chance you would wish to dictate such details yourself, yes." Inui smirked briefly. "Thank you, Atobe. We'll get started on convincing our respective captains that participation in such an event would be beneficial to the development of the team."

"You do that." The Hyoutei King smirked a bit. "It would, after all, be such a waste for ore-sama to organize such an event only to have no participants to speak of."

"Oh, rest assured there'll be plenty of participants, Atobe-san!" Dan said cheerfully. "Our teams will be more than glad to participate in your tournament~" Though his expression and voice were both equally innocent, there still seemed to be an almost sinister tone to them, promising things of not so desirable nature to their teams if they failed to meet this expectation.

The smiles on the older data players' faces were almost similar to those of proud parents as they left the Hyoutei school grounds.

*

"…Somehow, it doesn't really surprise me that he would do something like this." Inui smiled a bit as he glanced around, pen already settled over a blank notebook page as though expecting to see something noteworthy any second. "I would have certainly been glad with simply a tournament, but I'm certainly not about to complain about this change of events."

"Indeed." Yanagi nodded. "A weekend-long miniature camp should most certainly provide us with plenty of opportunities to gather new data - as well as give Atobe-san his desired matches."

"Which in turn will provide the most interesting data, I'm sure desu." Dan smiled brightly, quickly scribbling something in his own notebook as he took in the surroundings. There were several tennis courts in sight, and the building they were supposed to live in for the weekend was more a mansion than anything - it was rather surprising that such a place could be found so close to Tokyo. "This is all quite impressive, as expected of Atobe-san desu."

"You mean egotistic and prone to flaunting his wealth," Mizuki said dryly. "But then, like you all, I'm not exactly complaining. As I'm sure we all agree, this is even better than we could possibly have accounted for."

"More available data, too," Inui commented, glancing to where a few black-clad boys were entering the mansion. "I wasn't expecting Atobe to invite Fudoumine, too."

"Then again, Fudoumine was the one team that beat Hyoutei before Seigaku did," Dan commented. "At the opportunity for a rematch he would most likely include them as well, even though only one of his current regulars was playing at the time."

"Ah, yes. Shishido would likely want a new chance to test his skills against Tachibana." Yanagi flipped through the page of his notebook until he came across some peculiar figure. "And then, Tachibana is one of the very few players on Atobe's own level, along with Tezuka and Sanada."

"But as Inui-kun said, their inclusion simply means that there's more data available," Mizuki concluded. "Nfu. I suppose we should thank Atobe-kun for his decision. It will certainly be interesting to see the strength of these six schools in relation to each other."

"We could try to see who can predict the outcome best," Inui suggested, his glasses glinting ominously. "Before any matches are played, each of us will come up with their own predictions of how the matches will proceed. We'll then put the predictions in a closed envelope and not open it until everything is over."

"And how would we make sure nobody changes their predictions afterwards?" Yanagi asked, raising his eyebrows. "I'm quite certain we all are well capable of simply steaming an envelope open if we so desire."

"We'd just have to give it to someone trustworthy, obviously desu," Dan said. "Like… Kabaji-san. I'm sure he wouldn't let anyone touch the envelope before the very last match is played."

"For a kid, you're not too stupid," Mizuki said. "Nfu. I agree with this suggestion. After all, such predictions are my specialty." He tugged at a lock of hair by his temple. "And what would be the prize for the winner?"

"You mean gloating rights would not be enough?" Inui chuckled. "The confirmed data of one's superiority among data players?"

"That would be quite a precious bit of data, indeed," Yanagi commented with a smirk. "Very well, agreed. And I take it we all agree that Kabaji would be both unbiased and not affected by any form of bribery or coaxing?"

"I've no complaints on that." Mizuki nodded. "So by the end of the weekend, you shall all see that I am superior to the rest of you. Nfu."

"That we shall see desu," Dan said happily, his usual smile momentarily turning into a smirk that perfectly reflected those on Inui and Yanagi's faces. "That we shall see."


	2. 1: In Which There Is a Camp

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters. Konomi Takeshi does. I'm merely playing with them for the moment.

* * *

**Shattered Reality**

_Chapter 1  
_

In Which There Is a Camp

Jirou did not like waking up. Scratch that, he did not like being awake, aside from a few choice exceptions when there was something exciting to see. It wasn't like there was nothing good about the waking world, no, just that most of the time, dreams were much better.

Right now, Jirou was in the middle of a very pleasant dream. Everything around him had suddenly turned into pocky, which of course could only be a good thing. There had been a tense moment or two when he'd dared to taste Atobe's pocky crown, of course, but the dream-Atobe had eventually forgiven him. The crown hadn't tasted good, anyway. Jirou had thought gold pocky would be interesting but it'd just been… gold-y. Yuck.

Luckily, he was no more dealing with gold pocky. Instead, he had found a bench made entirely of mousse pocky, his favourite. Sitting down on the bench, he wondered whether he should start eating from the right or left end of the bench. And how could a pocky bench be so steady? It looked really comfortable, too… Maybe he should try lying down, to see whether it was better than the bench he always took a nap on during practice. Stretching on the bench, Jirou smiled as the scent of pocky surrounded him, eyes slipping close… it didn't matter, did it, it was all just a dream anyway, even he couldn't fall asleep in a dream…

And then someone was shaking him awake, calling his name. This wasn't right. In his dreams nobody came to wake him up, not unless it was a nightmare, and it couldn't be a nightmare with so much pocky around. Eyes opening just enough to see, Jirou prepared to tell whoever was waking him to get out of his dream right now unless they were made of pocky. And if it was someone made of pocky, he'd - he'd eat them for waking him up, that he would.

He found himself looking at someone he didn't recognize. That was weird. He usually only dreamed of people he recognized. But - was this a dream anymore? Suddenly the smell of pocky was away… Had he been shaken awake entirely?

"Ah, Akutagawa-san?" asked the stranger, and that was weird wasn't it, nobody ever called him Akutagawa, not unless Atobe was angry and the stranger didn't sound very angry. "I'm sorry, but Atobe-san told me to wake you up desu…"

"Atobe did?" Jirou blinked. Of course. Atobe was sometimes mean like that… but then, it wasn't really being mean, because Atobe never made him wake up without a good reason. "…Why?"

"Everybody's arrived, and he wants us all to gather in one place so he can welcome everyone," the stranger said. "He said he couldn't send Kabaji get you because he'd just carry you and let you continue sleeping desu…"

…Well, that was certainly true, wasn't it. Atobe sure wasn't stupid or anything. "Fine, fine," he said with a yawn, rubbing his eyes as he sat up. "…Wait. Who are you?"

"Dan Taichi from Yamabuki," the stranger replied with a bright smile. "I just went to tell Atobe-san the last players had finally arrived so he sent me to tell you desu. Now, come on! They're only waiting for us!" He grasped on Jirou's hand, tugging at it. Stumbling to his feet, Jirou noticed that Dan was even smaller than he was. Well, that was rare, wasn't it…

But then he didn't think of it anymore, dragged away as he was too fast to even think of falling asleep on his feet.

*

"So random matches today, a full-out tournament all day tomorrow, and more random matches on Sunday?" Muromachi scratched his head. "Woah. I might actually get to play."

"Lucky for you, ne, Panda-chan?" Sengoku grinned from his side, wrapping an arm about his shoulders. "I'm sure the data players will all have their eyes on you. Aside from Dan-kun, they've never seen you play!"

"As if." Muromachi rolled his eyes behind the shield of his shades. "If I do get to play, it will probably be while Tezuka and Atobe play against each other, or something. I'll be lucky if the referee has the patience to watch the match until the end."

"Aw, don't be such a sad panda." Sengoku ruffled his hair, drawing an annoyed cry from him. Couldn't senpai just leave his hair alone? "Want some bamboo?"

"Very funny, senpai," Muromachi huffed. "It's easy for you to make fun of me; with your luck there's no way you wouldn't get to play!"

"To play and to lose," Sengoku sighed dramatically. "There are some things even the best of lucks cannot get you. And do remember that the referee is still not the most important thing." As Muromachi gave him a questioning - and a bit suspicious - glance, he grinned. "As long as your opponent doesn't just up and leave, you'll do well..."

"Thanks for jinxing that, too," Muromachi murmured, glaring at his senpai.

That was it. He could just as well not even bother to try to play. Now that Sengoku had said that, there would be no point anyway. He just knew it.

*

Akutsu had absolutely no idea why he was where he was. Well, in a way, he did - he'd been dragged along by Sengoku and Taichi who had insisted that he was still a part of the team, want it or not. It wasn't absolutely terrible, of course; he got quite some amusement from glaring at people and seeing them run away. He wasn't going to beat them unless he was provoked badly enough; if he'd done that, Atobe would have probably thrown him out of his posh little camp and that would have upset Taichi. Not that Akutsu really cared, anyway, but he could just as well not be nagged at. The kid could get really annoying sometimes.

However, while they could bring him to the camp, they couldn't force him to play. Therefore, he'd declared himself an alternate, glaring at the team to remind them exactly what would happen if he somehow ended up actually playing. Naturally, he was thus stuck simply watching the matches, which was boring as hell but still beat just sitting around and doing absolutely nothing at all. Taichi had given him a small camcorder, not only trusting him not to break it accidentally or on purpose but also to actually record some interesting matches for him, since even though he always seemed to be in the way the kid still hadn't mastered the skill of being in two places at the same time. Akutsu had grunted something that might have been an agreement or not, but the fact remained, the camcorder was still in one piece.

It was a nice little thing, really, the camcorder. It was a bit too small to feel secure in his large hands, but it was probably the perfect fit for Taichi's hands. It was somewhat complicated, but Taichi'd nagged at him until he knew how to use it; after some time, he'd even got bored enough to venture out into the special effect menus. They kept him rather occupied occasionally. Taichi hardly would mind if the video went from colour to sepia to black and white, after all, all the data was still there as far as Akutsu could tell. If he didn't already know things like hair and jersey colours, he had no business calling himself a data player anyway. And if he did mind, well, fuck him. It wasn't like Akutsu was actually doing this for Taichi anyway; he was just bored.

Taichi had given him a copy of the tournament schedule, marking some of the most interesting matches on it. Akutsu roughly followed this guideline simply out of boredom, naturally; good tennis was less likely to bore him to death than bad tennis and it wasn't the bad tennis Taichi was interested in, after all.

Right now he was watching some Hyoutei kid's match with Seigaku's dark-haired power player. It wasn't a tournament match but just some random match-up arranged because the two couldn't be fit into the line-up. They weren't too bad, he supposed, though the majority of Taichi's interest in this match was probably because the two were both second years, which meant they'd still be there in the next year's official tournaments. However, Akutsu really wasn't watching the match a lot - or, at least, he wasn't watching the Seigaku kid. His eyes were entirely on the Hyoutei boy.

It was… familiar. He'd never seen the boy playing before, but it was familiar. The hair, for one thing, that particular style… and sometimes, the way he moved, the poses, the form. He knew it, all of it.

After all, he'd already played tennis as a kid.

This was just ridiculous. How could some random Hyoutei kid look so much like he'd used to?

*

He should have known. He really, really should have known. In a way he had known, hadn't he, only he had predicted it to be Tezuka and Atobe against each other. Close enough, Muromachi mused as everyone drifted away halfway through his match to watch Sanada go against Atobe. He supposed it was rather insulting, in a way, to have everyone just ignore his own match, but then he had to admit that the other one was likely far more interesting. He wouldn't have entirely protested at a chance to go watch it himself, in fact -- a chance that didn't involve him giving up and losing his match on purpose, anyway.

Thankfully his opponent seemed to have the same idea as he did. They both picked up their pace, wanting to finish the match in a timely fashion. There wasn't even one data player watching their match anymore. It was just that unworthy, not even Dan-kun would stick around to root for him. They were secondary, mere trifle details when compared with the true match of interest.

Fortunately enough, the referee stuck around long enough to call a conclusion to their rather less than safisfying match. They'd scarcely shook hands over the net as both went to pick up their things, not wanting to waste any time. Their match was over -- he'd won, Muromachi mused, not that anyone was likely to care -- and thus their interests lay elsewhere for the moment.

As he hurried towards the court where the real match was being played, Muromachi noted clouds gathering overhead. By the time he saw the two players going against each other, it was starting to rain. In less than five minutes, the weather had developed into enough of a storm that the referee called it off. It was just his luck, Muromachi mused, though he was rather glad he'd at least been able to finish his match before the rain started.

They all hurried inside for a while. One of the Seigaku players seemed rather distraught, two others trying to get him to calm down; surprisingly enough, it wasn't any of the kouhai. Muromachi drifted towards his own teammates. They all seemed to be more or less all right, trying to get water out of their clothes, though Dan seemed to make sure to keep Akutsu's broad back between himself and any windows.

"Aww, calm down, Dan-chan," Sengoku chuckled. "It can't get you, you know. Not if you stay inside."

"I know that," Dan said, sounding a bit annoyed as he peeked suspiciously at the windows past Akutsu's shoulder, only to disappear again at the next crack of lightning. "However, I also happen to know just how much energy there is in every bolt out there."

"Don't be an idiot, brat." Akutsu rolled his eyes. "How're you gonna get anyone to ever listen to you if you're afraid of fucking thunder?"

"Oishi-san is the vice captain of the team that won National Championship," Dan replied from behind Akutsu's back. Glancing over to Seigaku, Muromachi blinked. Wow, it really was Oishi who seemed close to panicking. Go figure.

Strangely enough, as Kita tried to make a quip at Dan's fear as well, Akutsu glared at him and told them all to be the fuck quiet. Muromachi didn't even want to think about the implications of that.

The storm cleared up almost as fast as it had begun, everyone heading out again. Atobe and Sanada seemed to have little care for the fact the court was wet, immediately continuing their match from where they had left off.

Ten minutes later, the storm was back, only to again dissipate soon. This repeated three times until finally the match was declared unfinished, leaving Atobe in the lead.

Immediately the sky cleared up, not giving them a single drop of rain for the rest of the day.

Looking at Atobe and Sanada's faces as Sengoku mused the gods must have been against their match, Muromachi took some comfort in the thought that at least he wasn't the one with the worst day.

*

"Oi, Atobe! Atobe!" An excited voice interrupted the conversation of three captains, making Tezuka pause in the middle of a sentence. "Atobe, we found something interesting!"

Turning to look, the captains saw a group of people approaching them, a widely smiling blonde at the lead. Tachibana blinked as he saw the energetic boy. Wasn't this Hyoutei's sleepy player? Akutagawa, wasn't it? Then how come he was so wide awake?

"What is it, Jirou?" sighed Atobe, turning towards the approaching boys. "I was in the middle of a conversation, as you can probably tell."

"But, but you have to come to see this!" Akutagawa bounced a bit at his feet. "You said we could explore all we want, right? But there's this one place we can't get to because the door's locked!"

"And of course that's exactly where you want to go?" Atobe asked dryly. Not that the answer wasn't obvious on the curious faces. Tachibana couldn't help but chuckle as he spotted Kamio within the crowd. Rikkai's Marui, Seigaku's Kikumaru, that was certainly Yamabuki's data player there and also Hyoutei's own redhead… He remembered Atobe getting tired of Mukahi's whines of boredom and sending him off to explore the huge mansion after the breakfast along with anyone else who couldn't find anything to occupy themselves with. Apparently there were more of such bored people than Tachibana might have expected.

"That's right, so come open the door," Mukahi snapped. "It's at the bottom of this really creepy stairway, there's obviously got to be something interesting down there!"

"And it never occurred to you that what you might find beyond the door could be simply a dusty, abandoned basement with nothing of interest within?" Tezuka asked reasonably. Well, in Tachibana's opinion he was being reasonable, at least. Apparently not everyone thought so.

"Aw, you're no fun, buchou," Kikumaru whined, apparently mere seconds away from latching onto Tezuka like a huge cat of some kind. "Come on, Atobe, open the door!"

"I guess there's no way to make you lot shut up otherwise," Atobe sighed, a tiny frown marring his face for a second at Kikumaru's familiar way of talking to him. "Very well, give me a moment to get the key ring. Tachibana, Tezuka, I apologize for this untimely interruption."

"Not at all," Tachibana replied with a slight smile. "After all, it's obviously not only your team's children that have this idea stuck to their heads. Right, Kamio?" He chuckled as his own redhead just glanced away with a slightly embarrassed look.

"We'll accompany you," Tezuka offered. "Someone has to help you keep this crowd in check, I fear." Looking at all the half-bouncing curious children, Tachibana couldn't help but agree.

However, the group was reasonably calm as they followed Atobe on his way to see the maintainer of the house, receiving the key ring after a couple of, "Yes, Keigo-sama"s. It resembled something that one might see used for a haunted castle in a horror movie - a huge ring with several old-looking keys hanging from it. Now that he thought of it, Tachibana hadn't seen a single modern lock in the mansion, aside from the front door… Well, it certainly fit the nostalgic atmosphere all too well.

Shaking the heavy ring in his hand, making the keys cling against each other, Atobe then turned to look at Akutagawa. "So, where's this door you absolutely have to get open or you'll die of suspense?"

"Down in the basement," Marui replied before Akutagawa even had a chance. "Well, not the basement, exactly… we already checked that, and there wasn't much there, just a couple of storage rooms." He popped a bubble of pink-tinted gum before continuing, "We just found this stairway behind a single door at the ground floor, and the door at the bottom is locked."

"Very well." Atobe sighed. "There'd better be something more interesting than another storage room beyond it for you to bother ore-sama like this…" Nevertheless, he walked on without much of a complaint as Akutagawa practically skipped by his side, Kabaji trailing behind him like a loyal shadow, Tezuka and Tachibana keeping a bit of a distance so as not to be pushed around by the most excited explorers who were almost half-running sometimes to keep up with Atobe's long strides.

After what seemed like an endless maze of corridors, hallways and rooms - and at least a couple of wrong turns that led to exasperated sighs from Atobe and loud arguments within the explorers as to who had remembered wrong - they finally came to the door to the mysterious stairway. It was behind the corner at the end of a long, mainly empty corridor; looking from the other end of the corridor one couldn't have told there was anything but a dead end there. Tachibana could only wonder just how bored they must have been to even check such a place to find the door in the first place.

The door opened with a creak, revealing a narrow, dusty stairway. Tachibana was sure he spied a cobweb or two in the corners; this probably wasn't the first place in the mansion the cleaning staff checked while working. Switching on a rather pale lamp in the ceiling of the stairway, Atobe started descending the stairs, one hand tracing the rough surface of the unevenly painted wall while the other still carried the keys. Tachibana followed along with Tezuka, marvelling at the look of the stairway. It was something he might have expected to find in the basement of an old school building, not one of the Atobe mansions - but then, the mansion was old. This stairway had probably just not been renovated lately.

Coming to a little open space at the foot of the stairs, Atobe paused to look at the door. Like Tachibana, he surely concluded the door hadn't been opened in ages. Nobody probably had found any reason to - not before this group of bored tennis players. "For your sake, I hope there's something worthy of note here," he said coolly before starting to try the keys to the lock.

There was a moment of suspense as nobody dared to speak, the clinging and clicking of the keys echoing in the stairway as key after key was found unfitting for the lock. Finally, though, Atobe tried a small, ancient-looking key near the middle of the ring. It turned in the lock, making a clicking noise that coaxed a collective sigh of relief from the crowd gathered behind them at the stairs. Atobe opened the door, revealing - nothing. It was pitch black in the room beyond, the light from the stairway only lighting a small patch of stone floor. A cool breeze flew out of the door, making Tachibana shiver slightly.

"Wow, it's really dark in there," Akutagawa muttered, peeking into the room from behind Atobe. "Can you turn on the lights, Atobe?"

Atobe stepped into the doorway, hand reaching to the wall at his side. "I can't find a light switch," he then said. "Kabaji, go get a flashlight."

"Usu," the large boy simply said before turning to walk up the stairs, pushing his way past the people gathered there. Tachibana wondered what he thought of being ordered around like that. Then, though, he got other things to worry about, trying to hold back the excited explorers who would have wanted to go into the room at once. Who knew, there might be even rats or something there - though Atobe would have surely been offended at the mere suggestion.

Kabaji returned surprisingly quickly, making Tachibana wonder whether he'd run the whole way. Not forcing his way past the others this time, mindful of the narrow stairway, he instead passed the flashlight on, transferred from one eager hand to another until finally Tachibana got hold of it and handed it to Atobe. Turning it on, Atobe stepped further into the room, letting the bright beam of light travel around the room. Tezuka and Tachibana stepped in after him, rousing a cloud of dust that danced in the light beam for a while, coaxing one delicate little cough from Atobe.

What opened before them in the sweeping ray of light was a huge underground chamber, a sitting room of a kind as far as Tachibana could tell. It was sparsely furnished, only a few couches lining the sides of the room, a few centred around a huge fireplace at the back of the room. Old, worn carpets covered the floor, a layer of dust laying everywhere, indicating that the room hadn't been used in ages. It was rather cool in the room, Tachibana noted; there probably wasn't proper heating anywhere. As Atobe let the flashlight wash the darkness of the ceiling he also noticed that there was apparently no electric lighting, either. That would certainly explain why Atobe hadn't found the light switch - there hadn't been one to begin with.

By now the others began to get restless, pushing forward with Rikkai's redhead at the lead. Pausing at the doorway, Marui glanced around with wide eyes before stepping further into the shadows of the dark chamber, others filing in after him. "Woah, I wish we'd have found this earlier," he breathed, following the ray of light with his eyes, from the battered furniture to the massive form of the fireplace. "This'd have been the perfect place to tell ghost stories late at night! Candles and all, it'd have been awesome!"

"Were you aware of this, Atobe?" Tezuka asked, turning to look at their host. His answer, though, was a shake of Atobe's head. Of course. If Atobe had known, he would have just answered their questions instead of going to all this trouble - and then, from the looks of it, the room most likely hadn't been visited at all during their lifetime.

"I couldn't possibly know everything about every one of our houses," he said with only the slightest hint of smugness in his tone. "If I had known of this, I'd have surely arranged some sort of get-together here last night - even if it was only for something as childish as ghost stories."

"Well, who says we can't have a party here now?" Akutagawa asked, grinning. "I mean, to celebrate the end of the camp and all! Please, Atobe? Let's have a party! It'll be lots of fun!"

"I… guess it might not be impossible." Atobe shrugged. "Very well, then. I'll have the place cleaned and ask the kitchen staff to prepare a feast of some sort here before everyone leaves for home."

"Wow, this'll be incredible!" Akutagawa exclaimed, his eyes shining. "I'll go and tell everyone immediately! Come on, come on!" Closely followed by an enthusiastic Kikumaru and a few others, he rushed off.

"Try not to fall in the stairs and kill yourself," Atobe called after the excited group. Then, he glanced at Tezuka and Tachibana and rolled his eyes, sighing, "Children," under his breath.

"That they are," Tachibana agreed, though even in the darkness he didn't miss the hint of an almost-smile on Atobe's face.


	3. 2: In Which There Is Fire

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters. Konomi Takeshi does. I'm merely playing with them for the moment.

A/N: I wonder if I'll ever find an Atobe and a Yukimura who get along. I doubt it.

* * *

**Shattered Reality**

_Chapter 2  
_

In Which There Is Fire

It was really amazing what an army of competent servants could achieve, given a few hours to work. Atobe glanced around in satisfaction. The shadowed room had been thoroughly cleaned and dusted, every last cobweb and speck of dirt cleaned away. There was plenty of firewood prepared next to the fireplace, warm flames already filling the room with their blaze. It was getting warmer, now, thanks to the fireplace and the multitude of candles scattered here and there all around the room. Crossing the worn carpet, he let his hand brush over the mantle, marvelling at the strange colour of the stone. He caught a glimpse of the same hue on the stone floor where it wasn't covered by the carpet, thick and comfortable under his feet despite its age.

All in all, he found no cause for complaint. There was a somewhat peculiar smell in the room, but nothing too unpleasant. Rather, it just added to the atmosphere, which was unique to say the least. Had he been the type to too easily believe in such things, he might have even claimed he felt someone watching him…

Spinning around, he discovered this was indeed the case. There were already a couple of people standing at the doorway, peeking inside. A smug smirk appeared on his face as he spread his arms, indicating the room, the old worn couches and the not-so-old tables that had somehow been brought down through the narrow stairway, loaded with snacks and drinks. "Do come in," he said, tossing his head exactly the way he knew was necessary to make his hair flip away from his face only to fall back to its original place.

Everyone started to arrive, one and two and three at a time, spreading around the room, chattering and laughing and looking around in the middle of firelight and flickering shadows. Every few arrivals Atobe would remind them to be careful with the candles; even after the thorough cleaning, there was plenty of dust lying around, forming a definite fire hazard, which was nothing good especially when coupled with the one small door and narrow stairway that served as the only exit from the chamber. Everyone listened and nodded and steered clear of the candles. Great.

Even as most of the people had already arrived, he left the door open, as it was practically the only way through which they could get fresh air. Addressing the gathered crowd, then, he could definitely feel someone watching him as everyone turned to look at him.

"First of all, I must thank you all for your attendance this weekend," he said. "I trust you have been as satisfied with this opportunity of various rematches as I. I'd very much like to claim the original idea as mine, but I'm afraid for that, you'll have to turn to your precious data players." He sent a smirk towards the little group gathered before the fireplace, where he'd earlier spotted them discussing something rather heatedly, presumably disagreeing on what kind of stone it had been built of. "Of course, another great idea of theirs was to turn to ore-sama to ask me to arrange this particular event, as I obviously have both the resources and organization skills required for such an effort. Now that we've come to the end of our little gathering and found the answers to many pressing questions about the outcomes of certain matches," the smirk he now directed at Sanada was more triumphant than anything, as was only to be expected; of course he'd known the outcome beforehand but it had been nice to get a confirmation, "I hope we can all forget tennis for a moment, blasphemous though the idea may seem, and simply enjoy ourselves before heading home."

He certainly heard no protests following this little speech of his, and, satisfied with this response, let them return to their previous entertainment of chatter and snacks. Mingling with the crowd, he swiftly made his way towards where the other captains and Sanada were gathered in a little group of their own. "Am I right to observe that all of your teams are here in full?"

"But of course," Yukimura said with the most pleasant of smiles, coaxing a similarly fake one from Atobe in return. "There's no one in Rikkai who would miss such a pleasant party!" Yet the glance he sent to Sanada's direction rather indicated that he was the only thing still keeping his vice-captain around.

"I got the impression not all of mine were too keen on the atmosphere of the place," Tezuka said, his face carved out of immovable stone as always, "but they appeared nevertheless, as is simply for the best. It would have been quite rude not to attend the party when you've gone to the trouble of arranging one." Yet he seemed to enjoy himself about just as much as Sanada did, which was very little indeed.

"Never mind it would be rather lonely to simply wander about the mansion while everyone else is here," Tachibana commented, a smile on his face. He at least didn't look like he'd rather have been anywhere else, even as his eyes occasionally darted around to check the whereabouts of his teammates. Atobe quite appreciated his care - it wouldn't have done for a fight to be started in the middle of his party, or something similarly unpleasant.

Atobe's eyes flew to Yamabuki's captain - Minami, wasn't it? He certainly wasn't the most impressive of men; in fact, had he not been consciously searching for yet another captain, Atobe might have missed him altogether. He stood a little ways from the others, a bit to the back, as though unsure whether he belonged within the exclusive circle at all. "And Yamabuki? Are you honouring us with your full attendance?"

Minami seemed almost startled to be addressed directly. Really, and this boy was a captain? No wonder nobody could ever quite recall just who was in charge in Yamabuki. "Ah, yes - yes, we are," he murmured. "Dan-kun told us he'd make sure we appeared whether we wanted it or not, and nobody wants to upset him."

"Is he really all that intimidating?" Yukimura asked, still smiling pleasantly as his eyes flicked towards the group of data players, who again seemed to be disagreeing on something. "Such a little thing! He seems rather insignificant, really, hardly anyone to be noted. Heheh."

"He's not that much smaller than Echizen," Atobe pointed out smoothly. "Surely you agree he, at least, is not all that insignificant?" A smirk curled his lips. The thought of having lost wasn't that bad when he knew he wasn't the only one Echizen had managed to beat.

Despite the never-fading smile Yukimura's eyes were cold as ice as he turned to look at Atobe. Atobe replied in kind. From the corner of his eye he saw Minami taking another step back and Tezuka and Tachibana exchanging glances. Who cared about them. This was his party; he was the only one allowed to insult his guests, and even then only those who obviously deserved it. In a perfect party nobody was upset, and his could be nothing less but perfect.

Of course, he might make an exception just for Yukimura…

Thankfully the conversation moved on to slightly less sensitive subjects soon enough. At the same time Atobe constantly kept an eye - and an ear - on the proceedings around them. For the most part everyone seemed to have fun, aside from a choice few who seemed somewhat creeped out by the atmosphere; others, though, found the slightly strange air of the room only all the more entertaining. Kaidou was trying not to show it, Atobe could tell, but he was absolutely terrified by the ghost stories Shishido seemed to have far too much fun with. Fortunately Shishido didn't have his Insight; if he'd made fun of Kaidou's fear there likely would have been a fight from what Atobe knew of the Seigaku player's temper. Thankfully, though, everything went peacefully. All in all, the party was apparently going to be a complete success.

Then he heard the words he'd secretly feared all the time. "Fire! There's fire!"

*

Even in the chaos that followed the sudden exclamation, Tezuka somehow found himself being of somewhat calm a mind. Turning to look towards the direction that was pointed at, he saw indeed the beginning of a fire, apparently originated from a candle that had been knocked over. For a moment he contemplated trying to put out the fire, but concluded there was nothing around to do that with, and instead began to shout orders. Well, he would have, if someone else hadn't started it first.

"Don't panic!" Atobe shouted, the snapping of his fingers seeming to carry over even the raised voices. As everyone hushed momentarily, Tezuka couldn't help but marvel at the Hyoutei captain's rather impressive aura of command. "Go to the door, up the stairs, and continue along the corridor and then through the piano room to the nearest exit! Hurry, but don't panic. Captains, after getting up the stairs, make sure everyone in your teams has gone by before you head outside yourself. Oshitari, you're responsible for checking Hyoutei. I'll follow after everyone else has made their way out."

Not even Yukimura thought it suitable to protest in such a situation. With a few more calls of warning about the smoke flowing out into the stairway, everyone started to rush out. Tezuka saw from the corner of his eye as Yamabuki's little data player tried to shake the miraculously still sleeping Akutagawa awake, only for Kabaji to scoop them both up, one small boy on each arm as he rushed towards the exit, ducking his head at the doorway. Tezuka himself kept an eye out for Seigaku, stopping as soon as he reached the upper corridor himself, making note of all his teammates rushing by mixed with the other teams. Even as Oishi arrived as the last one, though, Tezuka just shook his head in indication that he would not be leaving just yet. He had to look after one more person.

Even the other captains had rushed down the corridor slowly invaded by smoke as Atobe was the last one to stumble out, the stubborn thing he was, coughing as he nigh collapsed just to the side of the doorway. Tezuka rushed forward as soon as he saw the figure emerging from the cloud of smoke, grasping on his fellow captain's shoulders in support. Atobe turned his eyes up to Tezuka, looking oddly vulnerable kneeling at the floor.

"Is… everyone out?" he asked before coughing again, his voice frighteningly hoarse. "I… couldn't see anyone but…"

"Everyone's out," Tezuka assured him. "The other captains confirmed their entire teams were accounted for before leaving for outside; Oshitari said he'd seen everyone from Hyoutei leave as well, aside from yourself."

"Good…" Atobe pushed himself up into a half-standing position, steering clear of the smoke gathering at the ceiling, not even bothering to protest as Tezuka reached an arm to support him, slightly worried by the cough. "Guess it's the time for us to get out, too…"

They hurried down the corridor, Tezuka doing his best not to breathe too much even as he listened to Atobe's occasional cough with concern. It wasn't until they finally reached the exit that he dared to breathe properly in, letting go of Atobe as Kabaji stepped forward to the pale captain.

"Tezuka," Oishi said, sounding relieved as he walked closer to where his own team was gathered. "We're all here. Fudoumine's Kamio left to alert the staff in case they didn't notice yet, and Inui's currently making an emergency call." He nodded towards where the bespectacled data player was talking on his cell phone.

"Good," Tezuka sighed. He glanced towards Atobe, who certainly didn't seem to be in any condition to bring an order to the semi-chaos of frightened boys. Coughing and shivering as he half stood, half leaned against Kabaji, Atobe presented quite a worrying image instead of his usual rather impressive aura of presence. And he'd been exposed to the smoke for the longest time, too…

As their host was obviously not capable of any such tasks right now, he started shouting out instructions, trying to get everyone into something resembling calm and order as they waited for the firemen and ambulances to arrive.

*

As soon as he got outside, Kabaji settled the rather shaken Dan and finally awake Jirou on the ground, turning to look at the doorway. Only Shishido's hand on his arm and a warning shake of the head stopped him from rushing back to get Atobe. Surely Atobe could care for himself, he should have been ashamed for even daring to think otherwise… but still, he couldn't stop worrying until he'd seen Atobe for himself. Watching people hurry out of the door, he kept waiting for that one figure, one face.

Yet as Atobe finally arrived his worry did not fade, rather to the opposite. Reaching out to his pale captain, he suddenly found his arms full of a coughing, trembling Atobe, in his surprise only barely able to support Atobe as he seemed unable to stand by himself. The rest of Hyoutei gathered around them, all showing various levels of concern over Atobe's obviously shaken state. If Atobe showed any form of weakness, he had to be extremely badly off.

"Kabaji," muttered Atobe, his voice frighteningly hoarse, but Kabaji hugged him close before he got another word out, wordlessly indicating that words weren't needed now. Tezuka had obviously taken charge of the situation; it wouldn't do for Atobe to irritate his airway any more by attempting to speak. He sounded terrible enough as it was.

There wasn't a moment's doubt in Kabaji's mind, nor surely in anyone else's, who would be the first one attended to when the ambulances finally managed to arrive.

It seemed like forever until the ambulances showed up. Kabaji absolutely refused to leave Atobe's side until then, lowering him to the ground and supporting him in a half-sitting position as his legs finally completely failed him, extremely worried at the slightly irregular and by now rather wheezing breaths. Atobe seemed only barely conscious, failing to answer any questions asked, looking far too pale for Kabaji's liking. It wasn't until the paramedics finally arrived and immediately pushed an oxygen tube down Atobe's throat that he could finally somewhat relax, the responsibility taken away from him even as the worry did not fade.

Atobe would get better. Of course he would get better, just like anyone else possibly harmed in the fire would get better, too. Atobe would get back to his usual noisy, snarky self sooner than anyone could have expected, and then he'd start complaining because his party had been cut short in such a rude manner. It wasn't like there was any other possibility.

At least not any that Kabaji could have allowed himself to contemplate.

*

Sengoku turned his eyes to Minami as his captain rushed out right behind Higashikata. "Oi, Kenta!" he exclaimed, worry colouring his tone. "Why're you here?"

"Because everyone from Yamabuki is accounted for, that's why," Minami replied with a slight blink. "I didn't think I should stay behind; the other captains can manage their own players."

"But - but where's Dan-kun?" Sengoku asked, panic rising within him. How could Minami just forget about their smallest one like that? He'd probably been pushed aside as everyone was rushing to get outside and then he'd fallen and gotten caught somehow and now he was still inside - unlucky, unlucky, unlucky -

"Calm down, Sengoku," Minami sighed, placing a hand on his shoulder. "See, he's right there." He pointed at what to Sengoku seemed like just a group of Hyoutei players gathered, waiting for their captain. Then he, too, spotted a small figure seated on the ground, hugging his knees. "Kabaji carried him out."

"…Lucky." Sengoku sighed in relief. "I couldn't see him at first so I was all worried…" Then, trusting his captain could at least manage their team in this situation despite his severe lack of authority, he rushed to Dan's side. "Hey. You okay, kid?"

"…Sengoku-senpai?" Dan looked up at him, blinking. "I guess I am… Kabaji-san got me out almost right away desu."

"Lucky for you," Sengoku said, smiling as he crouched down at his kouhai's side, nigh completely ignoring the Hyoutei players right beside them. "…You look kind of shaken, though."

"Like you don't." Dan chuckled weakly. "I hardly had even enough time to realize what was happening desu… I tried to get Akutagawa-san awake, he'd fallen asleep next to the fireplace, but then Kabaji-san just came and picked us both up desu."

"Good to hear." Sengoku smiled. "Think you can stand up? Let's go to the rest of our team, organized data and all that."

"Nothing wrong with my legs desu," Dan chuckled faintly, grasping on Sengoku's hand as he stood up first, pulling himself up as well. "I hope everyone gets out all right desu…"

"I think we all hope that," Sengoku sighed, half leading, half dragging Dan back to Yamabuki where he could keep an eye on the kid. He felt responsible for the youngest of their group, and shocks like the one he'd received earlier when he thought Dan was still inside really weren't good for his poor fragile heart.

"So you actually made it out as well." Akutsu raised his eyebrows as he saw Dan approaching. "Che. Thought you'd get run over, the midget you are."

"I didn't desu… Kabaji-san picked me up and brought me out," Dan said, apparently not at all upset at Akutsu's cool tone. "I already thanked him, but he seemed more focused on waiting for Atobe-san to come out."

"So you got treated like just another piece of Hyoutei luggage. Whatever, if that's what you -" Akutsu was presumably going to say, 'like,' only to cough loudly.

"You keep doing that, Akuchu," Sengoku said, frowning. "What, did you breathe in the smoke or something?"

"What?" Dan's eyes flew wide. "Akutsu-senpai! You must have that checked by a doctor or something as soon as possible! It can be really dangerous!" A few Fudoumine and Seigaku students turned to look at them, being the closest, probably shocked to hear someone address Akutsu in such a tone.

"Oh, shut up," Akutsu growled, rolling his eyes. "So my smoking's caught up with me, big deal. That's still the only smoke I've drawn in."

"Like I care about your excuses desu!" Much to the horror of the gathered audience, Dan reached up to grasp on the front of Akutsu's shirt, pulling him down to look him directly in the eye. Akutsu complied, seeming more amused than anything as Dan continued, "Even if your cough is because of your cigarettes - which just means you should most definitely stop - you're going to have it checked because it's unfair to make others worry for you desu!"

"Dan-kun may not be all that intimidating in appearance," Minami murmured, just loudly enough for Sengoku to hear, "but I'm still not about to argue with him if I can avoid it."

"Indeed," Sengoku muttered back. "And not the least because he's got Akuchu on his side."

And indeed. For a moment Akutsu's eyes widened in something that was likely anger, making Sengoku think he might actually explode after all, but then he just started laughing, easily drawing himself away from Dan's tight grip as he straightened his back. "If that makes you stop bloody barking, puppy." He reached out a hand to pat Dan's hair almost affectionately, something that caused several widened eyes from the other schools. The Yamabuki regulars just shrugged, already used to such peculiar sights from past experiences. There were still people in the Yamabuki tennis club that would have been just as horrified as the Fudoumine or Seigaku players, but the actual regular team had long since come to realize that Dan was an exception to many rules when it came to Akutsu.

"You'd better desu!" Dan said determinedly. Then, however, his attention was drawn elsewhere by the arrival of the last boys from inside. A frown marred his little face as he saw Atobe's condition. "Poor Atobe-san desu," he murmured. "He must feel so responsible for all this, to stay behind like that…"

"He's just an idiot," Akutsu muttered. "Nobody asked him to wait for everyone else to leave first."

"He at least seems to be hurt somehow," Sengoku commented, looking at the Hyoutei captain's pale and shaky appearance. "I sure want to know just who was stupid enough to knock that candle over…"

"Nobody was," Dan said. As they all turned to look at him in question, he blinked. "I looked to that direction as soon as it was pointed out desu… there wasn't anyone anywhere near the candle as it fell. It was noticed immediately; nobody could have just moved as far as the closest people were at the moment desu."

"So the table must have been shaken or something," Minami suggested. "After all, candles don't just fall over by themselves, do they?"

Sengoku suddenly remembered the strange feeling he'd had in the room and wasn't all that sure anymore.

*

"Of course this had to happen." Sitting on the ground, Shinji looked on as the firemen worked on the fire, which by now had reached the ground floor as well. There were ambulances to the side; nobody seemed to have been burned, but they were examining all the people who were showing any symptoms of having breathed in any smoke. Atobe himself had been the first one, unconscious as he was pushed off to the ambulance, a tube down his throat just to keep him alive until they reached the hospital. "It was all going too well, nothing too bad happened all weekend even with all the violent people and whatnot, so of course now something like this just had to happen and now who knows what will happen to Atobe-san and I'm getting cold and -"

"Shinji." A hand on his shoulder made him stop his mumblings and look up, finding Kamio looking down at him. "Are you all right?"

"Akira." He sighed, hugging himself. "I'm all right… I guess. But I'm really getting cold…" His voice dropping lower, he continued, "I wonder why we can't go inside. I mean, it's a big house and not that big of a fire, surely there's some place that'd be safe already, they've already checked that everyone's out and everything, but probably they have their reasons and…"

"You're cold?" Kamio frowned, then promptly took off his own jacket. "Here, put this on," he offered, apparently rather unaffected by Shinji's still continuing mutters. "I don't need it."

Shinji looked at the jacket. It seemed very cold right now, he was only wearing a t-shirt himself, but then… "I can't take it," he murmured, "if I do you'll be cold and then it'll be all my fault, I really don't want to be the one at fault if you fall sick or anything, and besides it's not nice if you get so sick you can't come to school and I'd feel really guilty and -"

"I just told you I don't need it, didn't I?" Kamio huffed, shaking the jacket at him as though offended that Shinji would dare refuse his offer. "I'm not cold at all, promise. Just take it now. You obviously need it more."

"Well, if you're so set on it…" Shinji took the coat with a few quiet murmurs, slipping it on. He could still feel a bit of Kamio's body heat lingering, as well as the familiar smell of his best friend. Only barely resisting the urge to nuzzle his shoulder for a better smell, he instead pulled the hood over his head, curling up in a ball. "It's so cold," he muttered. "I can't really understand how you're not cold, really, there's wind and everything, how can it be so cold at this time of the year anyway…"

"You're probably just tired, or something," Kamio reassured him, kneeling down beside him. Shinji only barely noticed the arm wrapped around his shoulders, so very warm even through the jacket that smelled of Kamio… With a sigh, he gave in to the temptation, letting his head fall onto Kamio's shoulder.

Shinji didn't say anything for once, simply leaning against his friend, the shivers running down his back subsiding as he started feeling a bit warmer. Kamio was silent too, just being there, sitting beside him, warm and secure. The hood did little to filter the rest of the sounds, though, the chatter and shouts and worried calls, and the sound of fire in the background and the wind…

It was all loud, far too loud, and as Shinji closed his eyes tightly he just hoped he could fall asleep so he wouldn't have to listen anymore.


	4. 3: In Which Nothing has Changed

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters. Konomi Takeshi does. I'm merely playing with them for the moment.

A/N: Time for the first proper glimpses.

* * *

**Shattered Reality**

_Chapter 3  
_

In Which Nothing has Changed

Jirou's dream was... dark.

There was no other way to describe it. There was only himself, floating around in what seemed to be complete darkness, like a sea of ink except breathing caused him no trouble. He was walking in the dream, he could tell that much at least: nobody was carrying him, nor was he just lying there, not doing anything. Instead, he travelled within the dark emptiness, searching for something though he wasn't quite sure what.

He noticed the change as soon as it happened. He wasn't quite sure how, but he did. First he was just walking on; the next moment, he stepped… into something. It was the same darkness, the same emptiness, yet it wasn't, like he'd stepped into a new room, one equally dark but different in feel and dimension. Everything still looked exactly the same - or, rather, didn't look like anything at all - but he could somehow tell the difference. It was like… taste, or smell, except not quite.

This was when the first window opened.

It was somewhere off to the distance, a sudden rectangle of light within the empty darkness, like a window had indeed been opened through a previously impenetrable wall. Although there was obviously light coming in everything still seemed just as dark as ever, nothing being visible in the surroundings though the window certainly should have illuminated whatever was there, but right now, Jirou wasn't exactly about to wonder about this logic. Jirou started moving towards it, wanting to see where that light came from, wanting to see anything but this darkness, wondering if that was the thing he kept looking for even though he didn't even know why…

He stepped out. There was no visible door, no entrance, nothing, yet he knew he'd stepped out of whatever it was he'd been in. Suddenly he was back in the first darkness, and the window was away; yet when he turned around, there was still no doorway, no hole, nothing he could have gone through. He tried stepping forward in hopes of going back through the invisible entrance, but nothing happened. It was like the strange hidden place he had just visited had just... gone away. It certainly wasn't there anymore.

Although he had been alone in his dream ever since it had begun, it wasn't until now that Jirou suddenly felt very lonely.

*

"Is he any better?"

Kabaji looked up from where he was sitting in the hospital corridor as Tachibana spoke. He nodded slowly, muttering a deep, quiet, "Usu" in response.

"Good." Tezuka sighed, pushing his glasses up on his nose. "That was most careless of him."

"…Usu." Kabaji looked back down at his hands, clasped together in his lap. He looked exhausted, like he hadn't slept at all the night before. And chances were, Tachibana mused, that he hadn't, sitting in the corridor and just waiting.

"You should probably sleep," Minami said somewhat hesitantly, echoing Tachibana's thoughts. All five captains had agreed to come visit Atobe the following morning - well, almost. Sanada was Rikkai's representative, claiming that Yukimura had been too shaken after the incident and still needed rest. Tachibana quite doubted that, to be honest; if Yukimura could play on his former level again, as they'd all certainly witnessed him doing, he had certainly recovered enough from his illness to handle one shock just as well as the rest of them. However, he wasn't about to call Sanada on the lie; that would have been rather shameful for them all.

"…No." Tachibana would have been lying if he had said he wasn't surprised. Of course he'd known - or at least believed - that Kabaji was capable of speech; however, this was the first time he got any actual evidence of it beyond the usual brief agreements. "I want to see him first…"

Tachibana was about to protest, pointing out that Atobe would most likely rather have him go to sleep than come visit him looking half dead, just as a nurse walked to them. After confirming who they were waiting for, she told them Atobe was considerably better and could now have visitors.

"He can't speak much yet, so be patient," she said as she herded them all in through the door into the private room. Of course it was private. It wasn't as though Atobe would stand for the company of commoners even as he was struggling for his life. "Try not to pressure him into saying too much at once." With these words, they were ushered in.

Atobe seemed even paler than usually, lying in a hospital bed, his arms lying by his sides and his eyes fixed out of the window. As they walked in, though, he turned his head, acknowledging them with a small nod but not saying anything. Tachibana was rather relieved to see him without any external breathing aid. Then again, he probably should have known Atobe wouldn't allow himself to be dependant on such things for any longer than was strictly necessary.

Kabaji didn't say anything, simply hurrying to his friend's bedside, reaching for Atobe's hand. Atobe took his hand in response, as though to wordlessly let Kabaji know he was still there, in one piece, before turning his attention to the other guests as they more or less simultaneously greeted him.

"Everyone... is how?" Atobe asked, his voice sounding oddly rough and quiet, his eyes fixed on Tezuka who happened to be the closest. It was, however, Tachibana who answered, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Safe and sound, for the most part," he said. "A couple had suspected inhalation injury, but nothing as bad as you. They've all been examined and cleared by now. The mansion staff arranged a lift home for everyone."

"Good…" Sighing, Atobe closed his eyes momentarily. He seemed quite worse for the wear, Tachibana noted, but then that was only to be expected. He had had a close call just the night before, after all. "The mansion?"

"The fire was apparently hard to control," Tezuka replied. "They did manage to put it off in the end, but a good part of the east wing was damaged from the fire and smoke."

"Ah." Another sigh followed before Atobe opened his eyes again. "You should… school…" It was almost painful, hearing the usually so very eloquent boy uttering single words as though it hurt. And for all they knew, it most likely did.

"We couldn't exactly just go to school as though nothing happened," Akazawa said, raising his eyebrows. "I mean, it was quite a scare to everyone. We thought it better to get some news and head to school for the afternoon than let everyone speculate all damn day."

"That was a brave thing you did," Sanada said somewhat slowly, as though he was pained to utter anything that might be interpreted as praise to Atobe. "Incredibly idiotic, but brave."

Atobe chuckled a bit. "The only choice," he then muttered. "My party… my responsibility…"

"Oh, shut up!" Tachibana couldn't help but snap, finding all eyes on him and not really caring. "I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but not everything is about you and your pride. The last thing anyone was thinking of while rushing out was whether you'd gone out already or not."

"The main thing you accomplished was making everyone worry," Minami murmured. "And in the end, the only one who got hurt was you."

"Hmph." Atobe huffed, but Tachibana spied a hint of a smile on his face. "Of course it's… about me."

…Well. He probably shouldn't have been worried at all. There was no way something as small as a fire could have brought the great Atobe Keigo down.

*

"So Atobe's going to be all right?" Oishi sighed happily. "That's a relief." The regulars had all agreed to meet during lunch hour to hear Tezuka's news from the hospital; thankfully, the news had been positive.

"Indeed," Tezuka agreed, his face as serious as always, though Oishi with his accumulated experience on reading the captain detected a tiny hint of relief there, too. "Apparently everyone from the other teams is doing well, too."

"That's good." Fuji smiled, but then Fuji always smiled. "Yuuta, too?"

"Ah… Akazawa did say everyone in his team was unharmed." Tezuka shrugged. "So it seems the only one to acquire any lasting damage was the building itself."

"And houses can be rebuilt," Oishi added. He was truly relieved to hear these news. Before Tezuka had got to the school with this new information, he'd been really worried. Atobe had seemed rather bad to say the least as he was carried to the ambulance, and it would have been just terrible if he'd been hurt badly.

"So you say he is going to be all right," Inui said slowly, adjusting his glasses. "That refers to his future state. But how is he right now?"

"…Not so good yet, I'm afraid." Tezuka's expression turned from serious-happy to serious-serious again. "He was rather pale and couldn't say many words at a time… But I'm sure he'll pull through eventually." With a surprisingly sincere tone, he added, "He always does."

"Indeed." Fuji's smile turned into something of a smirk. "For all his other flaws, at least Atobe was never one to give up too easily."

"True, true!" Eiji reached his arms around Oishi's shoulders from behind, nuzzling him like a content kitten. It told quite a lot about the Seigaku regular team that nobody seemed to find this particularly noteworthy. "Atobe's maybe a stubborn bastard, but at least he's a stubborn bastard you've got to admire, nyah!"

"Really, now, Eiji," Oishi sighed, though a smile still tugged at his lips as the others laughed at his doubles partner's choice of words. "You really shouldn't call him that…"

"Oh? Well, give me a name that fits him better and I'll use that!" Eiji and Momo exchanged satisfied grins as though they'd planned this entire conversation beforehand.

"…A determined person?" Oishi offered somewhat feebly.

"Oh, I don't know. I don't quite think it catches the true tone of his personality," Fuji said airily. "I think I'll have to agree with Eiji here. What about you, Echizen?"

"I don't care," murmured their youngest member, tugging his cap down to shield his face. "Just don't write that down on a get well card."

"Oh, right!" Oishi's eyes flew wide. How could he have just forgotten something so important? "I'll immediately -"

"Calm down, I hope," Tezuka said levelly, briefly touching Oishi's arm, his expression just as unreadable as always. "I should think my visiting him with the other captains is quite enough of a get-well wish."

"…If you're sure," Oishi said, somewhat concerned. It still didn't feel quite right…

"Nyah, Oishi's always so serious!" Eiji grinned. "I mean, sure it's a serious thing, but you shouldn't be thinking too much about it! Let's just all be happy nobody was hurt any more badly, ne?"

…For once, even Oishi could do little but agree.

*

Dan yawned, rubbing the last bits of sleep from his eyes as he stumbled into the bathroom. He wasn't feeling quite awake just yet, but school wouldn't wait for him to wake up properly, convenient though that might have been.

Usually, Dan was always energetic in the morning, so excited to get to morning practice he almost didn't remember to stop to eat breakfast at all. Now, though, he felt unusually sleepy. His sleep had been rather restless the last couple of nights, full of strange dreams he couldn't possibly interpret. He remembered it had been dark in the dream, dark but there had been some sources of light, too, like windows in the middle of the darkness, all different in size and shape… He remembered looking out of the windows and seeing different places. Every place had been different, but there had been something in common between them, too, he just couldn't really put his finger on it, not yet. They hadn't been nightmares, he could tell; despite the strange darkness and the fact he'd been all alone he'd felt strangely… safe, almost. Like he'd been home. But despite the feeling of familiarity, the dreams hadn't given him much rest, and thus it was a very sleepy Dan that now splashed water on his face in hopes of chasing away some of the tiredness.

It was probably because of the incident with the fire, he supposed. It had caused him to sleep restlessly; such a scare was certainly enough to cause some disturbance for a couple of nights. The dreams didn't necessarily have anything to do with it, now did they? One could have dreams and not sleep well even without any connection between the two facts.

Starting to brush his teeth, he looked at his reflection in the mirror. He only saw his face at the very bottom of the mirror, not tall enough to reach any further. Slightly pointed face, big eyes, shaggy mess of hair - he certainly wasn't the most impressive of sights, now was he. Frowning as he spat some of the pink foam from his mouth - he quite liked his strawberry-flavoured toothpaste - he then glared at his reflection. It was just so… unsatisfactory.

Rinsing his mouth, Dan sighed, shaking his head slowly. It did little good to try to see a different face in the mirror; however he might try to change or disguise himself, the truth still wouldn't change. He was small and weak and useless, and though he might sometimes fool someone else for a while, he couldn't deceive his own eyes - not when the mirror showed him the truth.

Too bad he couldn't change his reflection, he mused silently as he tried in vain to force a brush through his hair, unable to clear the numerous tangles in the dark mess. If only he could… if only…

But it was impossible, wasn't it. The data was quite undeniable in this particular matter. The reflection could not change unless reality itself did.

Impossible…

*

"Good morning, Mizuki-san." Yuuta looked up from his breakfast as his senpai approached with his own breakfast tray, unusually late. Mizuki was usually one of the first ones to come to breakfast, or just about any meal; it allowed him to observe other people without being in a hurry to finish his own eating.

"Good morning, Yuuta-kun." Mizuki took a seat next to him, hiding an elegant little yawn behind his hand before grimacing, again so very elegantly. "Ugh. Last night was simply dreadful."

"You sure look like that." Akazawa raised his eyebrows as he looked at Mizuki. Now that Yuuta thought about it, their manager did look quite worn out. "What, did you have nightmares or what?"

"If you'd call them that." Mizuki frowned, rubbing his temples as though to ward off a headache. "Just… restless dreams. Nothing frightful, though." Then, casting a glare about the table with most of the tennis club gathered about it, he added, "And don't you even think of suggesting an easier practice today because of that. I'm perfectly capable of normal practice, and so are you all."

"Oh, geez, Mizuki." Yanagisawa sighed, rolling his eyes. "Do you ever take a rest?"

"I look after my body's needs most diligently," Mizuki snapped, turning to his breakfast as though to prove his claim. "It's you who should do more. Obviously you don't exercise enough." Yuuta managed to catch a look of dawning horror in Yanagisawa's eyes just before Mizuki added, "Fifty laps for you."

"All nice and friendly right from the morning as always, I see." Akazawa grinned a bit before glancing around to find the rest of the team in the cafeteria. "Huh? Where's Kisarazu?"

"Beats me," Yuuta said, shrugging. "I haven't seen him all morning."

"He'll be late to practice," Mizuki said calmly. "Fifty laps for him, too."

"How do you know that?" asked Nomura, sounding slightly puzzled. "I mean, he's been late to breakfast before and still made it to practice."

Mizuki seemed almost startled for a split second before he recovered, snapping, "Of course I know! Do you dare question my data? How many laps would you like, huh?"

However, even as he listened to Nomura's apologies, Yuuta couldn't help but think that for a moment it had seemed like not even Mizuki had known just how he had predicted that.

*

The average member of the Hyoutei tennis club had certainly noted the captain's absence for a couple of days. It also wasn't that hard to notice that the King was absent from school altogether. However, following as they did Oshitari's orders instead of Atobe's, most of the club members were still not quite aware of the tension among the regular members.

If it was easy to notice the lack of Atobe in general practice, in the regulars' club room it was certainly even more obvious. It was noticeably quiet, for one thing, and somehow… empty. Atobe's ego perhaps seemed too big at times, but one couldn't really know just how much of an impact his mere presence had before he was away.

Gakuto sighed as he shouldered his bag, impatiently tapping his foot against the floor. "Come on, Yuushi," he snapped. "I want to go already!"

"Calm down, Gakkun," Oshitari sighed. "I still need to write in the club diary before I can leave." Glancing around in the clubroom, he added, "Someone, get Jirou awake."

"…Usu." Walking to the blonde nodding off in front of his locker, Kabaji shook his shoulder. Blinking, Jirou yawned, then continued changing his clothes with his usual sleep-dazed slow pace.

"Atobe-senpai really does a lot, doesn't he?" Ohtori commented with a faint smile. "It's just hard to notice it when he's actually here."

"Yeah, 'cause he's always drawing all the attention to his so-called prowess," Shishido snorted, adjusting his cap. "When's he coming back, anyway?"

"Well, I don't know if he's comin' to school tomorrow," Oshitari said, "but he told me he's handlin' practice on Thursday, so I guess we'll be seein' him then at latest."

"Good," muttered Gakuto, folding his arms across his chest. "Then I won't have to wait for you all the time!"

"Some patience, Gakkun." Oshitari rolled his eyes as he started making notes in the club diary - or a substitute thereof. Atobe quite preferred to keep the diary on the computer, but of course he wouldn't give his password to Oshitari, secretive bastard that he was, so the notes for these two days had to be made in a separate notebook. Gakuto fumed. Stupid Atobe, first getting hurt like that and then putting all his duties on Oshitari's shoulders! Wasn't that what he had Kabaji for, or something?

"I hope Atobe'll be all right," Jirou muttered, yawning a bit as he finished buttoning up his school shirt, running a hand through his messy curls. "It's got to be pretty bad if he misses practice entirely."

"Of course he will," Shishido muttered. "There wouldn't be much prowess to be awed at if he was anything but perfect. I bet when he comes back, we won't even notice that anything happened in the first place. That or he'll somehow manage to be even more damn glorious than before."

"Well, I really hope so," Ohtori sighed. "I'd really hate it if he got badly hurt because of the whole mess."

"It'd be his own fault anyway, for staying behind like that," Gakuto announced. "Now hurry up, Yuushi!" He would be happy when the incident was all forgotten and over with. After all, it wasn't like it was going to affect them beyond these few days without Atobe.

Surely everything would be forgotten soon.

*

"That was a good game," Kamio said, grinning a bit as he wiped sweat from his forehead. "Right, Shinji?"

"I suppose it was good enough," Shinji mumbled, taking a drink from his water bottle. "It's nice to play against good opponents."

"Damn right!" Kamio's grin was still wide as he could only barely keep himself from skipping around. He was still high on adrenaline, enough so that he didn't even need any music to feel the rhythm flowing high in his veins. There were few things that were as good as a proper match.

"You seem pretty excited," a voice spoke up, drawing both their gazes. Kamio's eyes widened as he saw Tachibana-san walking closer to them. It wasn't every day their captain happened to come to the street courts. "Any particular reason?"

"We just ran into some of Hyoutei's players earlier," Shinji explained in his usual rather monotone manner, apparently not overly excited at the sight of their captain. The infidel. Then, when was Shinji overly excited about anything? "We played against them. It was a nice match. They also said Atobe's still not back to school. I kind of wonder why because you said he'd be all right, but then maybe it's just taking him a while, it must have been pretty bad after all, but they said he's supposed to be back on Thursday so I suppose Tachibana-san really was telling the truth but then it's not like Tachibana-san would lie to us anyway so maybe it's just --"

"Atobe's coming back to school already? That's great." Tachibana-san smiled, not paying much mind even as Shinji went on muttering about something apparently unrelated. It wasn't like Shinji was really talking to them anymore, anyway. "I just hope he won't exhaust himself too much. He was still pretty badly off on Monday; it's rather hard to believe he'd just suddenly be fine so soon."

"Who cares about that idiot, anyway?" Kamio huffed. He thought everyone was really talking too much about Atobe after the incident. Even Shinji muttered about him time to time. "It's his own fault for not getting out faster. Nobody asked him to stay behind."

"Now, that's just rude, Kamio." Tachibana-san frowned at him, which almost made Kamio flinch. Tachibana-san wasn't supposed to be frowning at him, it just wasn't right at all… "Atobe was our host at the time, and though he was rather ridiculously stubborn to stay behind like that, it was also very brave of him. It's the least I could do to visit him, given the circumstances."

"What circumstances? That he was stupid enough to get himself hurt?" Kamio murmured, crossing his arms over his chest. "If he hadn't been so stubborn he wouldn't be in the hospital right now."

"I already told you, Kamio." Tachibana-san -- glared at him. Tachibana-san was not supposed to be glaring at him either, it just wasn't fair, not over something as ridiculous as Atobe's stubbornness anyway… "And I claim you can be even more hard-headed occasionally, so I wouldn't say it's just his stubbornness that got Atobe hurt."

"I'm not," Kamio mumbled, looking away. He wasn't stubborn, he was just… determined. Yeah, that was it. He was determined and didn't give up easily. Those were good things, weren't they?

"Heh. If only denial would actually make things go away." Tachibana-san chuckled. "Stubbornness can be a good thing, you know, especially for a tennis player. ...Though I suspect Atobe would still rather call himself tenacious or something."

"Well, he does play long games well," Kamio admitted grudgingly. Then, expression brightening, he added, "But he's still nowhere as great as Tachibana-san!"

"Ehh... I wonder." Tachibana-san scratched the back of his head. Then, before Kamio could even properly protest at such a ridiculous notion, he added, "It's good to see you training hard outside practice, though. You need to do your best to be a proper team next year when I'm not there anymore!"

The thought of Tachibana-san leaving them chased all other things right out of Kamio's head. "Don't talk about it!" he snapped, perhaps almost too viciously. "It won't be in ages yet!"

"Sooner than you'd like to think, I suspect." Tachibana-san sighed, but then smiled. "I'm sure you'll do well even without me, though. You'll make me proud." He grinned, and Kamio found himself grinning back.

At least for now, Tachibana-san was still all theirs.


	5. 4: In Which Not Everything Is the Same

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters. Konomi Takeshi does. I'm merely playing with them for the moment.

* * *

**Shattered Reality**

_Chapter 4  
_

In Which Not Everything Is the Same

While Wednesday had still brought no sign of Atobe to Hyoutei, despite the ever watchful eyes of fan girls and the occasional fan boy looking hard for even the slightest hints of his return, on Thursday he was back to duty, apparently just as energetic and strong as ever. Kabaji kept looking at him with a rather worried look instead of his usual blank calmness, as though Atobe was a delicate flower that might wilt at any moment; the mental image might have been amusing if anyone'd had enough time to actually contemplate such things. However, with Atobe back, they most certainly did not. It was like the captain was trying to make up both for his momentary weakness and the missed practices by pushing them all even harder than ever before. Granted, the practice had been a touch lighter for the first half of the week, even with the coach there, but that only made the contrast seem more painful.

"Oh, geez," Oshitari murmured as he looked at Atobe barking orders at his huge club. "He really shouldn't be lookin' this energetic when he's barely out of the hospital. Can't the guy ever get tired or anything?"

"No mutters, Oshitari," Atobe said with a falsely sweet voice, flashing him a brief glare. "Now, get started with your practice match with Kurayama-kun."

Oshitari rolled his eyes before walking to the designated court, nodding at his opponent. Kurayama-kun was a third year, one of the pre-regular players they had used in the Tokyo tournament before the humiliating loss to Fudoumine. Nothing too challenging, but at least he wasn't going to fall asleep in the middle of the match like a bespectacled Jirou. …He hoped.

The match started out easily enough - perhaps even too easily. Oshitari had to fight to keep his attention on the match all the time. All too often his eyes strayed to where Atobe was also playing against a pre-regular, doubtlessly giving his opponent an extremely hard time even if he was going easy.

Oshitari shook his head briefly before returning his mind to his current match. Of course Atobe couldn't get tired; that would have been too convenient for him, after all. It was just an empty wish, really.

And yet again his attention was drawn from his match, this time by Atobe's voice instead of his own straying interest. "Ohtori!" the captain called out, causing the tall second-year to turn towards him, along with a few curious others. "Come take ore-sama's place in this match."

Oshitari frowned. It wasn't all that rare for Atobe to tell someone to take his place in practice; if he felt the opponent wasn't currently quite worth his attention, he'd simply change to another opponent that he found more challenging at the time. Now, however, Atobe just stepped away from the court, wiping sweat from his forehead as he walked towards the bench he usually sat on when observing practice without taking part himself. It was with somewhat concerned eyes that Oshitari watched him walking to the bench unusually slowly, then sitting down on it; however, the next moment his attention was forced away by a fairly interesting shot right past his head.

After a few more balls, though, he won another game, looking at his opponent seriously. "Go find someone else to practice with," he simply said, trusting that the boy could indeed find someone else in the massive club who could spare a moment to actually play against him - perhaps Ohtori's previous opponent. As for Oshitari, he headed towards Atobe's bench with slow yet purposeful strides, not wanting to look like he was in any kind of a hurry but wanting to get to Atobe as soon as possible. Better not draw any extra attention on the situation.

As he reached the bench Atobe was sitting there with his head in his hands, elbows leaning on his knees, appearing absolutely exhausted. After only momentary hesitation, Oshitari flopped down next to him, his eyes apparently on the several courts spread before them even as he kept his focus on Atobe in the edge of his field of vision. "Ya feelin' all right?" he asked with a low voice.

"Why would you even ask? Surely even you wouldn't be ridiculous enough to suggest I don't look like it," murmured Atobe, but his voice was rather quiet; Oshitari almost had trouble hearing what exactly he said. "Ore-sama's perfectly well, I'll have you know.."

"With all due respect, ya really don't look like that." Oshitari raised his eyebrows. "If you're feelin' so very well, stand up and I'll believe ya."

Atobe seemed to hesitate for a moment, then slowly shook his head. "I'm too tired," he muttered, then added with an almost confused tone except Atobe was simply not confused, not ever, "Well, not tired exactly, but more… void of energy. I can't even seem to hold my head up…" Again, his voice was quiet, too quiet. Even Oshitari's usually rather aloof nature was now leaning towards concerned. This just wasn't like Atobe at all.

"Maybe ya'd better just go lie down for a bit," he suggested with a low tone, glancing around to make sure nobody was close enough to hear. "You're still recoverin', after all. I'll tell the coach."

"…I'm feeling a bit faint…" Atobe's words were barely audible now, with a rather worrying quality to his voice. Oshitari leant closer, shaking his shoulder slightly. Atobe raised his head from his hands only for it to fall back down. Close as he was, Oshitari suddenly paid more attention to the short, shallow breaths, sounding rather wheezing and certainly faster than they should have been.

"…Oi. Atobe." Oshitari's fingers tightened about his captain's shoulder. "Atobe, calm down. Breathe deep. You're goin' to hyperventilate."

"I can't," murmured Atobe, the quiet voice further muffled by his hands over his face, "I can't… Have to… more air…"

Oshitari glanced around again, this time more alarmed than anything. Spotting the one figure he obviously needed in this situation, he called out, "Kabaji!"

Kabaji was immediately by his side, concerned eyes at Atobe's hunched form. "Take 'im to the school infirmary," Oshitari instructed, indicating Atobe who tried to protest but failed to form enough words. "Hurry, there's somethin' wrong with 'is breathin'."

"…Usu." Kabaji obediently picked Atobe up, ignoring the feeble protests he got from Atobe or curious gazes from the people surrounding them. Cradling Atobe in his arms like a child, Kabaji quickly strode away from the courts, towards the main school building. Oshitari stood up, sighing a bit as he headed to the coach, who doubtlessly required an explanation by now.

He tried not to think how the first symptom Atobe had displayed had been tiredness. Because that was entirely unrelated. Of course it was unrelated.

*

It was quite an ordinary sight in the Seigaku tennis club to find Momo and Kaidou fighting over some matter or another. It was, however, somewhat less ordinary to find one of them more or less calmly watching as the other fought with someone else - even if this "someone else" was merely an inanimate object instead of an actual person. Therefore, Inui was rather surprised to walk into the club room to face exactly such a scene.

"Damn, you're stupid," Momo sighed, rolling his eyes as he looked on at Kaidou's struggles with his current cause of ire. "I mean, how complicated can some stupid water bottle be?"

"Oh, shut up, you idiot," Kaidou growled, glaring up at Momoshiro from where he was attempting to open the offending bottle. "If you are so much smarter, why don't you try opening it?" He reached the object in his hand out to Momoshiro, who looked a bit started before he masked it with a mocking grin.

"Awww, poor wittle Kaoru-chan is asking for help!" Momoshiro laughed in a way that Inui knew had a 83 percent chance of setting Kaidou off. He was fairly sure Momoshiro was perfectly aware of this fact, too. Really, Momoshiro could have been quite an intimidating data player if only he could have simply concentrated on the data on Kaidou.

"Just open the damn thing, you idiot!" Kaidou growled, throwing the water bottle at Momoshiro, who only barely dodged it. It bounced from the wall towards Inui, who rather effortlessly caught it.

"Really, now. What's the matter this time?" he asked, glancing at the water bottle in his hand. It was a new brand he'd seen in advertisements lately; supposedly it was guaranteed not to leak under any circumstances. Judging by the two second-years' argument, whatever system was used to achieve that was perhaps a bit too effective after all.

"Mamushi can't get the stupid bottle open," Momoshiro said, giving his rival a superior gaze. "He's just too stupid to get it, he's just far too stupid!"

"Shut up, fsshuuu," Kaidou replied, glaring at Momoshiro even as there was a slight flush on his face. "It's just got some strange trick to it! And there were instructions but I haven't seen them because my mother bought the bottle, fsshuuu. I don't want to take the entire top off just to get some water."

"Let me see this." Inui looked at the bottle more closely. There was indeed some complex system in it. It seemed like… ah, yes, that had to be it. "It is rather complicated, yes," he agreed with Kaidou, "certainly nothing one would immediately think of. You have to first twist it clockwise, than push the very top down, and twist it counter-clockwise. This should release it and - ah, yes." Smirking with satisfaction, he handed the bottle to Kaidou. "Here you go, Kaidou. To close it, you have to do the same thing backwards. Can you remember that?"

"Ah - of course, Inui-senpai." Kaidou seemed a bit startled as he took the bottle. "I - thank you, Inui-senpai."

"See, you were just stupid," Momoshiro said with a satisfied grin. "It wasn't that hard, it wasn't that hard at all!"

"As I said," Inui said sharply, adjusting his glasses, "it's not exactly a method one would automatically think to try. In fact, I do claim you couldn't have come up with this solution yourself any more than Kaidou did."

"Then how come you did?" Momoshiro didn't seem about to give up just yet. "I mean, I know you're smart and everything, but how'd you know how it works without even trying it first? Do you have a similar one or something?"

"Of course not," Inui replied. "I merely referred to -" His sentence was cut off rather abruptly as he realized something. He had been referring to a diagram to come up with the solution - a very clear and precise diagram, neat and organized in his mind. The problem being, there was no such diagram at hand. He had never seen anything like it, either - yet he'd been very well aware of the inner structure of the bottle top.

Suddenly, Inui was feeling rather… illogical.

*

The first thing anyone would notice upon entering the candy shop was the smell. Every last corner of the little store was filled with the sweet scent of sugar, mixed with some soft chocolate tones and chipper peppermint. Jirou drew a deep breath as soon as he opened the door, sending the little bell over the door ringing. He just loved the smell there. He was certain he could have found his way around the shop with his eyes closed, following the trails of familiar scents to all his favourite sweets. That would have been a total waste, though - then he would have missed all the beautiful displays with their cheerful colours and absolutely drool-worthy mountains of candy. He just loved this store, loved every little bit of it, especially the bits with the mousse pocky.

It was with his usual cheerfulness that he walked into the store today, making use of the shorter school day and lack of tennis practice on Saturday to spend his time browsing the store thoroughly. With a cheerful greeting to the owner, a kind elderly man, he made a beeline right for the pocky shelves. After gathering a pile of his favourite kinds he went on to explore the rest of the store. This was one place he couldn't even imagine falling asleep in; the scent of sugar alone would keep him up if nothing else.

He was so concentrated on counting the new flavours of lollipops on display he didn't even notice he was moving right towards someone else. Apparently this someone also didn't notice him, as suddenly he realized he'd just bumped into someone. Blinking, he turned around to apologize, only to find a vaguely familiar face looking at him.

"Jirou-san?" A pair of big chocolate eyes blinked up at him. It really was a nice change from being shorter than everyone but Gakuto.

"Dan-kun?" Jirou blinked as well. Oh, yeah, the boy from Atobe's tournament... He'd been really fun to watch the best matches with; not even once had he suggested that Jirou was childish or something for getting as excited as he did, instead squealing right along with him. Jirou rather liked people like that. "Are you buying candy, too?"

"Yep!" Dan smiled brightly, nodding enthusiastically. "I was running a bit low so I had to replenish my supplies desu~"

"Of course," laughed Jirou. "Can't have a sugar shortage, right?" That was indeed one of the most horrible things that could ever happen, in his humble opinion. Right after insomnia.

"But of course not desu! That'd be just horrible, ne~" Dan grinned at him. Jirou grinned back. It was always lovely to find someone who didn't think he was girly or something for liking sweets so much. It was really unfair. Why would only girls have had the right to like sweets?

Dan was not a girl, though, despite being rather cute, and he seemed all too happy to explore the store with Jirou. Slowly, though, Jirou started to get a really strange feeling from him. He was sure he'd seen Dan just recently, after the camp... but that was impossible, of course. He didn't remember running into Dan during the week; sure, the other might have seen while he was asleep somewhere, but then he certainly wouldn't remember it himself, now would he?

"Ano... Jirou-san?" Dan's voice broke him out of his thoughts. Looking over, he saw the younger boy with a somewhat awkward expression on his face. "Ah... how is Atobe-san right now? I mean... he's better now, isn't he?" He looked rather... worried, Jirou supposed.

"Well... he is and he isn't." Jirou paused, trying to think of a way to put it. "He was back in practice on Thursday... he seemed all better and stuff, he played tennis, too, but I don't think he's really all right yet. Kabaji had to take him to the infirmary, though I don't know why... Oshitari says he was breathing funny or something."

"Oh." Dan frowned. "That's really bad... I hope he gets better soon desu."

"Yeah, me too." Jirou sighed. "It's really strange, you know? Atobe's not supposed to be weak or ill or anything, he's always able to play no matter what, but... I just don't know what to think. Atobe's not supposed to be like that."

"I bet desu." Dan sighed, shaking his head. "I can only wish I was as strong as he is... I hope he'll get better soon; all that must be really frustrating, especially for someone like him."

"Nobody is as strong as Atobe," Jirou said confidently, then sighed. "That's why it's so weird to see him like that... I never thought Atobe could be so, well, weak. It's almost scary, you know?"

"I know desu," Dan said quietly, nodding. "It's like... like Akutsu-senpai had suddenly turned weak or something..." He bit his lip, then blinked and smiled again, though not quite as cheerfully as before. "But he'll be all right, won't he? Surely Atobe-san won't be feeling bad for too long desu. He just needs a bit of time to recover and then he'll be all right!"

"Yeah... Atobe's stubborn like that." Jirou chuckled, feeling his own smile returning. "And silly, coming to practice when he's not all healed yet. He's always like that." He grinned a bit. "Did you know he holds Hyoutei's record for most punishment laps run at once?"

"Really?" Dan blinked. "But... why'd he have to run laps?"

"He assigned them to himself," Jirou replied. "After he lost to Echizen-kun. He could barely stand in the end, but he went on and on running for hours." He shook his head. "That guy really doesn't know when to stop... but that's why he's so awesome," he added with his brightest grin. "Nobody's as great at tennis as Atobe! I mean, Echizen-kun did beat him, but..."

"I know what you mean desu." Dan smiled just as happily. "Nobody's as great as Akutsu-senpai, either."

Jirou laughed. "I guess we're both just biased like that, ne?" He breathed deep, enjoying the scent of all the candy surrounding them. "...I heard you tried to get me awake," he said. "You know, at the fire." He grinned. "Thanks."

"Ano... but I didn't manage desu," Dan said, flushing a bit as though embarrassed. "In the end, Kabaji-san had to carry us both out..."

"But you tried at least," Jirou insisted. "That's what counts! You could have just as well forgotten about me and run off, but you didn't." He thought about it for a bit. "...You know what? When we're done here, wanna go for ice cream together? My treat, as a reward for looking after me!"

Dan blinked as though surprised he'd ask something like that, then smiled. "Sure desu!"

Jirou nodded, satisfied. The day sure couldn't get any better.

Hopefully he wouldn't fall asleep before finishing his ice cream.

*

Stepping into his room, Dan closed the door behind himself, then fell back to lean against it. He was completely exhausted. After meeting Jirou-san, he had decided to go to the street courts to gather data for a bit, and had somehow ended up playing doubles with one of his classmates. It wasn't like he could have said no, after all; more practice was always good, even if it was only doubles. Doubles was, Dan had come to discover, most certainly not his strongest area of expertise. His focus became more of a hindrance when there were two more players added into the match, and he sometimes found it hard to play in coordination with his partner. Sure, his playing wasn't quite as abysmal as Echizen's -- his unfortunate attempt at doubles with Momoshiro had become something of a horror story at the street courts -- but still nowhere near the level of his singles. And considering he was still just a beginner in that, well...

They had still managed to beat a few pairs, though, even though they had also lost a few times. All in all, Dan was happy he'd gone there, but he was also quite worn out. Time to rest a bit and then organize the data he had gathered today.

Settling his bag next to his desk, Dan reached over to turn on his CD player, then pressed 'play'. He heard the familiar whirr of the disc inside starting to spin before the music started. It was a new album from one of his favourite singers, all bright and fast and cheerful. Despite his exhaustion, it still managed to make him smile.

His bed seemed all soft and nice and tempting. It would have been so easy to simply fall on it and take a nap... but he couldn't do that, could he. At least not while he was still in his tennis clothes. Pulling off first his jacket and then right away his t-shirt, he paused as he caught sight of his reflection in the mirror. Dropping the t-shirt, he stepped closer, taking a good look at himself.

Dan had never been too big, if not exactly as runty for his age as he sometimes felt. He was shorter than most other kids his age, yes, but although he appeared slim he was a fairly healthy weight for a growing boy, not one of those fairy-like kids who looked like they'd fly away if the wind blew too hard. Whenever he got too frustrated at his height his father comforted him, telling that his growth spurt had been fairly late in the coming, too. Considering his father was taller than the average Japanese man, Dan took quite some comfort in this thought. However, it didn't exactly help when he found himself surrounded by senpai who were even taller than his father. It seemed most of his senpai were tall and muscular and strong, so very different from his own short and thin and runty self. And most of the other tennis players were like that, too, weren't they...

No. He shouldn't be thinking like this. Echizen-kun was only a few centimetres taller than him, wasn't he? Though he certainly had plenty of more weight, and all muscle, too. But that was just a matter of training, right? If he just kept training hard and doing his best, he'd be just as good as Echizen-kun some day. He'd promised it to Akutsu-senpai, after all.

Tearing his eyes away from his body, Dan did his best to ignore how small he looked, looking himself in the eye instead. Determined not to let himself feel so down over such a silly thing, he managed to summon a small smile on his face. "Mada mada desu," he said to his reflection. "You just have to work harder, Taichi..."

But was there really any use? All the others had such a big head start on him. It seemed nothing he did had any effect. So he had managed to copy the Twist Serve, and Drive B, and other moves, too. What good did it do when others already knew all those and a great deal of even better moves besides? He was just a stupid little copycat, and not even a good one at that. He could waste all his time trying to reach where the others stood if he wanted; by the time he reached that spot, the others would already be way ahead again.

He knew it was stupid to think like that... but sometimes, it was quite hard not to. He was so useless and small and weak... of course he was going to think so. He couldn't play doubles, but there were tons of people who beat him with little trouble in singles; even Jirou-san who was so nice and everything would probably just fall asleep in the middle of the match if Dan tried to play against him. Dan wouldn't have even blamed him. After all, playing against someone like him couldn't be all that interesting.

Sighing, he leant his forehead against the cool surface of the mirror. "It's no use," he murmured. "It's never going to change, is it..." Refusing to give in to the temptation of crying, he closed his eyes tightly instead. He couldn't just give up like that, he reminded himself. He'd made a promise to Akutsu-senpai...

Suddenly, the music in the background disappeared, and it became completely silent. Eyes flying open, he found himself staring at his own reflection, the familiar view of his room in the background. He saw the light on the CD player shining as usual. Nothing seemed wrong there; but then why would it be so silent?

...Something was wrong. He couldn't quite put a finger on it, but there was something that bothered him about the reflection of his room. Frowning, he pushed himself away from the mirror, turning around.

Darkness. Where his room was supposed to be he saw only total, impenetrable darkness.

Unable to stop himself, Dan screamed.


	6. 5: In Which Shishido Flushes

~S~Disclaimer: I don't own the characters. Konomi Takeshi does. I'm merely playing with them for the moment.

* * *

**Shattered Reality**

_Chapter 5  
_

In Which Shishido Flushes

It took Dan a moment to calm down. The shock of finding his entire room turned into impenetrable darkness wasn't exactly something to simply shrug off. For some time, he almost expected his mother to come to his room to see what had caused him to scream; however, he then concluded that since he couldn't hear the CD playing in the room, it was unlikely she would hear him, either. All the better. She probably couldn't help him anyway, so it was better not to worry her needlessly.

Looking over his shoulder, Dan saw the reflection of his room there, just as it had been there a moment ago. It was... a mirror. Or perhaps a window, rather, as what he saw was obviously not a reflection of what was around him. However, it was the exact size and shape of the mirror in his room. Everything was in its place, just somehow... weird.

Okay. Calm down, Taichi. Your room hasn't disappeared completely, you just... aren't there.

As he finally managed to convince himself he was neither insane nor blind, he started analyzing his situation with as much logic as the circumstances seemed to merit. Which wasn't all too much, given the circumstances.

There was darkness all around him. Complete darkness, with no variation in deepness or shade, surrounding him everywhere aside from one exception, the mirror. He finally managed to figure exactly what had disturbed him about the view. His earlier thought comparing it to a window was rather more accurate than he had thought. His room was exactly as one would view it standing right inside it - except that the view was restricted to the angle and view of the mirror. It was as though... as though he was inside the mirror.

Shaking his head, Dan sat down. He wasn't sure what he was sitting on, as there was no visible ground or floor, and as he reached his hand to the surface, it met nothing. However, something was supporting him, first on his feet and now as he sat down. Something... where there was nothing.

Closing his eyes, Dan rubbed his temples. He was starting to get a headache. None of this made any sense. People didn't just step into mirrors. It just didn't happen. It wasn't possible!

Opening his eyes again, he looked over at the mirror, and blinked. Something had changed in the view.

He was there, now, in his room, sitting on the floor as he did in the darkness. It wasn't his reflection, though, but rather something he hadn't quite seen ever before, not outside pictures. His headband was wrapped around his left wrist out there in his room. Looking down, he saw the very same green headband around his right wrist. He had not put it on his right wrist.

If he was the reflection here in the darkness, in the mirror... was he now seeing himself through the mirror as others saw him in real life?

Fascinating though it was, in a way, it was also extremely unnerving. Something like this was simply... unnatural. Was this happening at all? Had he simply fallen asleep and was now dreaming? Yes, that had to be it. He'd fallen asleep, silly him, he must have been even more exhausted than he'd thought. But then... how could he wake up?

Shaking his head at the cliché, Dan nevertheless pinched himself. It hurt. He was still not waking up.

...Perhaps he was actually awake after all.

Dan slowly ran his fingertips along the fingers of his other hand, one by one. He felt the touch on his right hand, he was certain about it, yet however he looked at it, he could see himself touching his left hand. The hand that did not have a headband twisted around its wrist, whatever his mind told him.

So. He was the reflection, then.

Of course, he'd sometimes thought about it as a child. Wondered what happened to the reflection when he stepped away from the mirror. Did it just disappear, cease to be? Or did it simply go somewhere else, into some strange world he couldn't reach? Except there wasn't such a world, was there. There was just this... emptiness.

That wasn't even logical. Since he was here, as his own reflection, the rest of the objects in his room should also have been there, anything that could be reflected off the mirror, anyway. But then, logic obviously had very little to do with whatever was going on, anyway. By all logic, he should have been safely in his own room, not... looking into it.

He could get out of here, couldn't he? Of course he could. He'd somehow gotten in here, hadn't he? And his reflection out in the room was following his movements, not the other way around. That meant he was still the real one. He'd just have to find his way back somehow.

The surface of the mirror was solid, he noted as he reached a hand to touch it, but aside from that it didn't have any particular texture to it. It wasn't glass, not on this side, just... something. Some kind of a barrier between him and the other side of the mirror.

He'd been touching the mirror, right? He'd been touching the mirror, and then... then he'd closed his eyes...

Suddenly, the silence was filled with sounds. There was the CD player, and a car passing outside, and his mother calling him for dinner from downstairs. Dan took a couple of deep breaths before he dared even try to answer her.

"I'm coming," he shouted out, doing his best to keep his voice normal. "I'll just put on a clean shirt!"

"Be quick about it," she replied. "I've already called for you three times!"

"Yeah, yeah," Dan murmured, quickly walking to his closet to rummage through it. Clean shirt, clean shirt... ah, yes, here. Sighing, he pulled it quickly on. A bit of movement caught his attention at the very edge of his field of vision.

Dan turned around. He was left standing quietly, staring at his reflection.

His reflection stared back.

~S~

"So how was the camp?" Yuuki asked, smiling even as she started to gather the dishes left from the dinner to wash them. "It's been a while already and you haven't said a word about how it went!"

"Oh, just peachy," Akutsu grumbled, cursing inwardly. He should have just stayed out. The stupid woman always got chatty when he came home to eat. But then, he did need to eat sometimes, and he needed his money for cigarettes and such. "It was all just perfect, especially the fire at the end."

"Fire?" She looked rather startled. "Oh, no! Was anyone hurt?"

"Nobody died," he replied. Far as he knew or cared, anyway. "Some were taken to hospital, but nobody was burned or anything."

"Well, that's at least a relief." Gathering the dishes in the sink, she started to run water, back turned to him as she asked, "So, did you play tennis? Or see any interesting matches?"

"Didn't play. Got stuck watching them for Taichi, though. Almost put me to sleep every damn time." Just then, Akutsu came to think of something. "…Oi, hag." He waited until she turned to look at her, then asked, "Do you know anyone called Hiyoshi?"

She blinked, then looked startled, eyes widening. "Ah - why would you think of such things?" she asked. "I haven't ever mentioned anyone called Hiyoshi, have I?"

"I thought you might not, but looking at your bloody reaction right now, I'm not so sure anymore." Akutsu frowned as he looked at her. Just because he had bad manners didn't mean he was stupid; he certainly knew when someone was trying to lie to him, especially when they were such a bad liar. "So, spit it out. What's the connection?"

"Ah… well. Where'd you run into such a name?" she asked - avoiding his questions, obviously. "I mean… how much do you know already?"

"The camp Taichi dragged me to. Or did you forget in two minutes?" He wouldn't really put it past her; she certainly seemed rather airheaded at times. Then again, it was unlikely she'd forget about the camp in years, it seemed, never mind a couple of minutes. She had been so very enthusiastic about it, saying how nice it was he was finally making friends, such a lovely thing really and wasn't Taichi-kun so very nice for finally bringing Akutsu out of his shell. "There was this kid named Hiyoshi Wakashi. A year younger than I." He glanced sharply at her, adding, "Both his appearance and tennis were almost exactly the fucking same as mine as a brat."

"Ah, I… I see." Yuuki bit her lip, wringing her hands. "I… well. Um. You - you know what I've told you about your father?"

"I know. You said the man's bloody dead." He raised his eyebrows. "I also know that's just a load of bullshit. You think I haven't noticed the money we get every month? Like you'd even be able to send me to a fucking private school with your salary. Which is bloody stupid, anyway. It's not like I do any better there than in a public school."

"But you'll get into a better high school from there," she murmured. "I want you to have a good future, Jin…"

"Don't you try to avoid the question, hag." Akutsu rolled his eyes. As though he was going to go into a high school in the first place. "So. My father's not dead. Is that why the brat looks like me?"

"I… well… there's no use denying it, is there?" Sighing, she sat down, looking at him seriously. "Your father's name… was Hiyoshi Kenta. Is, I mean. He's married with two children… one of whom is indeed a year younger than you."

"And the other?" Akutsu pressed on, wanting to get all the information. He had a feeling he already knew, though…

"…Two years older than you." She bit her lip, looking at him with a somewhat miserable expression. "When I found out I was pregnant with you, he'd already been married for four years. I… I did not know this… He never told me."

"Of course you didn't," huffed Akutsu, "When do you ever know anything?" He was tempted to light up but then she'd just get all huffy about that and he'd get no more answers from her. Pissy old hag. And gullible, too, letting perverted married men trick her like that, leaving her alone with a brat…

"Jin, please." As though pleas worked on him. "Just… promise you won't go looking for him? I mean… I don't want you to ruin his life."

"He already ruined yours, though," Akutsu pointed out. "You're stuck as the single mom of a juvenile criminal. Not like he ever bothered to let us hear of himself."

"He does help with the expenses," she murmured. "And I'm - I'm glad I have you, Jin…"

"If you really are glad about that, you're fucking insane," Akutsu huffed. "And he'd better be sending a damn lot of money if he can afford sending his youngest kid to Hyoutei of all snobby rich places. Youngest if he doesn't have any more bloody bastards, of course…" Stupid, stupid hag. She really didn't know what was the best for her.

"But I am," Yuuki argued. "You're a good kid, Jin… I know you don't like to admit it, and you definitely don't act like it, but you are. You're wild and disobedient and you're not very nice -" understatement of the year if Akutsu'd ever heard one - "but… I know you'll turn out for the best. I just know."

"As I said - you're insane." Akutsu shrugged. "You're just wasting your time and money trying to make a proper man of me. I've no interest in behaving well."

"I know that, Jin." Yuuki sighed. "But if you… if you can be nice to the likes of Taichi-kun… I do have hope for you." She smiled carefully at him as though expecting him to agree. Fat chance.

"Hope for me for what? That I'll grow up to be just like daddy dearest and leave some other girl ldealing with a kid she never wanted? Or that I'll turn out gay because I tolerate Taichi and save the hypothetical bitch that much trouble at least?"

"You know I don't care about those things," Yuuki hastened to say. "I mean… if you liked boys… that'd be all right. I wouldn't be mad at all…"

"Because it'd be a fucking miracle if I liked any person at all." Akutsu raised his eyebrows. Just how stupid could the old hag be, anyway? "Just… bloody forget it, okay? I've no interest in finding daddy dearest. As long as he's paying some form of kid support, I've no reason to go and beat him up. I now know why the brat looked so familiar, that's enough for me for now."

"I… don't you want to know them?" she asked carefully. "I mean, your father and… brothers…"

"This only now came to your mind?" Akutsu gave her a disbelieving gaze. "Look, hag, it's not like I haven't survived this long without them. I can survive more. Like, you know, the rest of my fucking life."

"Jin..." She looked almost... helpless, in a way. The idiot. Akutsu hated it when she looked like that. It made him almost feel guilty, and he hated feeling guilty because damn it feeling guilty meant he'd done something wrong and nothing he did was wrong because he just damn well didn't care.

"You told me not to ruin his life, right?" Akutsu stood up, stretching his lean frame. "And someone like me showing up damn well would ruin it." He paused. "I'm going out." It wasn't a question or a plea for permission, just a simple statement. He was going out, let's see her do something about it.

She didn't do anything about it, as it turned out, merely looking after him with those damn helpless eyes.

Stupid old hag.

~S~

"Ore-sama still doesn't see the point of this exercise."

"Not everything has to have a point, Atobe." Gakuto rolled his eyes before throwing a cartwheel on the roof, grinning smugly at his perfect form as he landed neatly on his feet. "Besides, isn't it quite enough of a point that you get to spend time with all of us~?"

"There's not enough time in the world for me to avoid you enough," the captain grumbled, yet there was a tiny smirk playing on his lips as he made his way into the corner of the roof where the rest of the team was starting to gather. They were busy setting various kinds of snacks and bento out for eating, Ootori and Jirou apparently working the hardest to get things in order. "And if you wanted a picnic, you should have just said so. We could have had a proper one instead of some snacks on a school roof."

"With all due respect, capt'n dear, your idea of 'a picnic' is quite overblown," Oshitari pointed out, smirking a bit. "The rest of us rather prefer the snacks on the school roof to your version. The servants and feasts are nice sometimes, but they don't exactly belong on a picnic."

"You're just limited in your views." Atobe rolled his eyes, sitting down very elegantly considering he was practically just plopping down on cold cement. It was, he felt, quite the useful innate talent. He watched his team all finding their spots around what they apparently called a picnic. Jirou leant against Kabaji with an impressive yawn about as soon as all the food had been set out as though that exercise alone had been enough to exhaust him to the core. Shishido sat down just a bit too close to Ohtori for it to be an accident, though it was obvious he would have very violently denied everything had someone actually dared to bring any attention to the fact.

The food wasn't bad, he noted. Sure, most of it was homemade or bought from the store, rather varying in its quality, but he was hungry enough to slip a bit in his standards, especially since the iditos had announced they would make sure he ate no sweets until he'd eaten 'proper' food. Honestly. If he'd wanted mothering, he would have taken his butler along. Nevertheless, he played by their rules, allowing himself to be surrounded by all kinds of useless chatter.

There was quite too much chatter, though, he decided, as it started to give him a headache. It was rather an unpleasant feeling that was hardly helped by the brightly shining sun. Closing his eyes, he tried to concentrate on ignoring it.

"Hmm? Atobe?" Gakuto leant closer. "Are you all right?"

"Yes, quite." He opened his eyes, giving the acrobat a wry look. "I merely have a headache."

"Didn't you have one yesterday, too?" Shishido asked. "As I recall, you spent quite some time bitching about it."

"I did not 'bitch about it', as you put it," Atobe snorted. "But yes, it has been bothering me for a few days already." As though there wasn't already enough wrong with his health. Stupid fire.

"Maybe your eyes are getting worse," Hiyoshi suggested. "I had headaches, too, before I got my first glasses.

"Don't be ridiculous," Atobe said, frowning even as he rubbed his temples. "There's nothing wrong with my eyesight."

"Still, those headaches can't be good for ya." Oshitari raised his eyebrows. "What'll ya lose by havin' it checked, anyway? A moment of your precious time, that's all. You'll lose more if we start buggin' ya 'bout it all the time."

"What's it to you, anyway?" Atobe sighed. Oshitari really could be a pain sometimes… "You're not exactly one to lavish people with your attention and concern."

"It's makin' ya all annoyed and whiny, that's why." Oshitari smirked. "That, and seein' ya in glasses would be totally worth the hassle."

"You won't see me in glasses, as I have no need for a pair." Except for perhaps Oshitari's own, the pretender. Atobe huffed. "Fine. Just to prove it, I'll have my eyes checked, but I assure you, nothing will be found wrong. Nah, Kabaji?"

"Usu," his loyal companion replied. Kabaji seemed somewhat… amused. Of course, most people would have never noticed the signs, but Atobe wasn't exactly most people - not when it came to Kabaji. He knew his friend through and through, and at the moment he knew Kabaji was finding this little exchange amusing on some level. Atobe did not want to further contemplate whether Kabaji was amused on his behalf or expense.

"You're just too damn stubborn," Shishido huffed. "You'll get yourself killed one of these days because you can't admit you might need help of some kind."

"Aww, is Shishi-chan worried?" Gakuto chuckled, leaning closer to Shishido with a teasing smirk. "Aren't you worried Chou-chan might get jealous?"

"Wha - stop that!" A flush crept on Shishido's face as he pushed Gakuto away. "What the Hell are you talking about, anyway?"

"I think you know perfectly well~" Gakuto smirked, then attacked Shishido. "And don't push me around!"

Atobe sighed, shaking his head as the two started a wrestling match, very nearly kicking some of the food around. They bumped into Ohtori at some point, too, very nearly knocking him over.

"Okay, cut it!" Atobe finally snapped. "For God's sake, what are you, three? Now sit still, or will I have to give you a time-out?"

"Oh, shit, sorry Choutarou," Shishido said, realizing what they'd done. Gakuto, meanwhile, grumbled something about Atobe turning into a mother. "Did you get hurt or something?"

"No, nothing like that, Shishido-san," Ohtori said, appearing a bit embarrassed. "Everything's just - ah!" Apparently only now noticing, he looked down at himself. "My cross! Where'd it go?"

A quick glance around gave Atobe the location. "It's over there." He pointed at the ledge surrounding the roof. "The two idiots apparently snapped it off while they fought. You're lucky it didn't fall on the ground."

"Oh, man," Shishido moaned, getting up to his feet, shaking his head as Ohtori made to do the same. "Don't bother, Choutarou. I dropped it, I'll get it."

"But it's dangerous, Shishido-senpai," Ohtori protested. "What if you fall?"

"I won't fall," Shishido promised him, walking closer. The cross was on the other side of the safety fence, but as people over the years had often noted, the fence was by no means too high to climb over. At least he had the good sense to check that it was sturdy enough before climbing. "And if it's dangerous, that's all the more reason for me not to let my kouhai do it, eh?"

"Oh, so sweet." Gakuto made a kissy face. "Be sure to reward him with your love and kisses, Chou-chan~"

"Fuck you, Gakuto," Shishido grumbled, flushing again as he got over the fence, starting to inch closer to the fallen cross.

He should have known something bad would happen. He did, actually, a dreading feeling spreading deep inside him. However, he didn't say anything to stop the other. Why would he have? The ledge was fairly broad, and besides Shishido had the fence to hold onto if he needed support. Certainly, it wasn't the safest of pastimes to go around skipping on the wrong side of the fence, but then Shishido was hardly an idiot. He knew better than to do anything stupid.

Of course, he hardly intended for his foot to slip over the edge just as he bent down to pick up the cross, or for his frantic grab for the fence to miss by just enough that he couldn't quite grasp the bar that might have saved him. Fighting to get his balance back, he failed, falling after the slipped foot that couldn't find anything to stand on.

Atobe opened his mouth, but he didn't even have enough time to cry out as he saw Shishido disappearing over the edge.


End file.
